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Patients have been infected and hundreds more could be at risk from a killer superbug that has swept through Auckland Hospital.
Anxious hospital bosses were last night trying to downplay the threat, saying no one had died as "a direct result" of contracting the extremely rare superbug. But the Herald on Sunday can confirm a 62-year-old female patient who died last week from what has been described as "excess bleeding" had been infected with the bug. However, it is unlikely the bug was the reason she died.
In a statement, Auckland District Health Board chief medical officer David Sage said patients who had been treated for Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) had died, but VRE "had no real part to play in their death".
The hospital has not released the number of patients infected, other than to say it is a small number and tests are continuing.
Staff remained on high alert last night with Auckland District Health Board chairman Wayne Brown blaming a "dying foreign patient" for spreading the killer bacteria several weeks ago.
The superbug is caused by a common bowel bacteria that is harmless unless it gets into the blood stream.
However, the bug can spread easily, with anyone who comes into contact with it potentially running the risk of becoming a carrier. If not treated with antibiotics, it can also be deadly - but that said, some strains are antibiotic resistent.
Since the superbug was first detected in New Zealand in 1996, only 30 people have tested positive for it, with 15 of those becoming infected.
The most common way of being exposed to the bug is through contact with things such as railings, drinking taps and handles which have previously been contaminated by a carrier.
While the spread of VRE hasn't yet been thoroughly documented, medical researchers believe up to 5 per cent of the population may be carriers.
Symptoms include fever and feeling unwell. It is most likely to affect patients who are critically ill, have poor immune systems or who have been in hospital for a lengthy period of time.
Although this is not the first superbug to strike in a New Zealand hospital, it is considered one of the most dangerous to public health. Despite this, it has been business as usual at Auckland Hospital with operations continuing as scheduled. On Friday night every bed and bathroom in the hospital was cleaned followed by protocols for stringent ongoing cleaning to control the potential spread of the bug.
However, whether this is sufficient to contain the bug is still unclear.
Brown was vague on details, but did confirm "a foreign patient had it," and, "It's more than just normal cleaning."
"We've got foreign protocols from offshore where it has been managed, and we're managing exactly the latest of what's been done from there. We're not just making it up as we go."
Brown could not elaborate on what those "foreign protocols" were, but said potential targets had been tested.
"I'm the chairman of the hospital. I don't check everything."
Brown did not want to discuss the case of Auckland woman Jacqueline Hooton, 62, who contracted VRE after cancer surgery at Auckland Hospital two months ago.
Hooton died last Monday, and while family members don't believe the superbug ultimately killed her, they did acknowledge it could have caused complications.
"They [hospital staff] told us she had the bug," a family member told the Herald on Sunday.
"They certainly made it clear that it wasn't a good thing that she had the bug."
The hospital would not say when patients had been informed about a potential outbreak, but when Herald on Sunday visited Ward 76 - where Hooton may have contracted the disease - it was still open and no warning posters were in sight.
Hooton was placed in isolation after contracting the superbug a week before her death, and family members were made to wash their hands and wear gowns, and gloves.
Superbugs
Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) are bacteria resistant to many antibiotics. They are spread through physical contact. Healthy people can carry VRE, but are not at risk of infection.
The elderly, critically ill and those with weakened immune systems are vulnerable to contracting VRE.
Symptoms include back pain, a burning sensation when you urinate, diarrhoea, feeling weak and sick, or fever and chills.
Treatment includes isolation of sick patients and powerful antibiotics.
An Auditor-General report in 2003 found at least 11 people had died in New Zealand hospitals from hospital-acquired infections.
Another superbug killed three elderly patients last October, the first outbreak of necrotising fasciitis in New Zealand, forcing authorities to shut a hospital ward in Christchurch.
