Trust confirms more bug deaths

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/7230337.stm

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The Northern Health Trust has said there have been three more deaths in its current outbreak of the hospital bug Clostridium difficile.

It brings to 23 the total number of deaths linked to the bug in the trust's area since last summer.

The bacterium causes diarrhoea and can even lead to a rupturing of the bowel. It tends to affect the over 65s.

The Northern Health Trust has recently identified a virulent strain called ribotype 027.

It is believed to be the first time this strain has emerged in Northern Ireland.

After it emerged last month that 16 patients' deaths in the Northern Health Trust area since the summer were linked to C. difficile, Sinn Fein assembly member Mitchel McLaughlin called for a public inquiry.