A coroner's inquest opened Monday into the deaths of 16 people who succumbed to C. difficile at the same hospital east of Montreal last year.
The inquest is not meant to lay blame but to find out what was behind the outbreak, which lasted from mid-May to early November, at Honore-Mercier Hospital in St-Hyacinthe.
"The inquest will last at least until March 15th with the first of the hearings scheduled for today, tomorrow and Wednesday," CTV Montreal's Paul Karwatsky reported Monday.
"It is headed by the Quebec coroner Catherine Rudel-Tessier and will attempt to determine how the C. difficile bacteria spread so quickly in this case," Karwatsky said.
The inquiry will also seek to determine why the spread was more deadly than other hospitals with similar outbreaks.
Since 2003, a hyper-virulent strain of Clostridium difficile has circulated in Quebec, killing as many as 2,000 patients, including 13 since September.
When the Quebec government ordered the inquest last year, provincial Health Minister Philippe Couillard said there is enough evidence to conclude that proper sanitary procedures were not followed at Honore-Mercier Hospital.
An internal report prepared for the hospital cited poor hygiene for the outbreak, including a case of one bed being used by three infected patients who later died.
"Officials have confirmed at least 33 people were infected with the disease before special measures were put in place, so a lot of questions to be answered here," Karwatsky said.
There has been criticism that the inquest's focus is too narrow.
"Family members of other victims who have died of C. difficile in other hospitals do wish to see this inquest expanded, we know that in total 2,000 people have died in Quebec of C. difficile," Karwatsky said.
"A lot of people want to see this problem addressed as a wide-scale problem and not just limited to one hospital."
C. difficile, which causes diarrhea and can lead to a more serious intestinal condition known as colitis, has become a menace in hospitals and nursing homes. It is commonly found in older hospital patients taking antibiotics and is transmitted by physical contact with the bacteria.
High rates of antibiotic use in institutions leave patients more vulnerable to the bacterium. When patients take antibiotics, competing colon bacteria dies off, allowing C. difficile to take hold and flourish.
Experts say the difficulty of eradicating C. difficile spores once an environment has been contaminated by an infected patient makes the bug easier to contract in hospitals.
With a report from CTV Montreal's Paul Karwatsky
