Singapore General Hospital (SGH) reports that 42 patients now have VRE
Tuesday � April 5, 2005
Singapore General Hospital says 42 of its patients have Vancomycin-resistant
enterococci (VRE).
This is nearly three times the number the hospital announced on April 1.
It says out of the 42, only one person is infected while the rest are carriers.
The hospital has postponed 600 non-urgent surgeries that were scheduled for the
next two weeks.
Since Friday, it has received some 2,000 calls from the public about VRE.
It is still safe for patients to come for their appointments and to visit
relatives though this is restricted to two visitors at any time.
On Sunday, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said the VRE antibiotic-resistant
bacteria was not a "major problem" in Singapore.
But he said it has the potential to be "very serious" if it becomes entrenched
in hospitals, as it is in the United States.
VRE is not dangerous in healthy people with strong immune systems where the
balance of healthy flora in their digestive tract helps keep the bacteria from
getting out of control.
It is dangerous because it cannot be controlled with antibiotics, and it causes
life-threatening infections in people with compromised immune systems.
Patients can be either colonised without showing any symptoms � thus becoming
carriers of the bacteria � or they can be infected in their wounds, urinary
tract, or blood.
Such patients may show symptoms such as high fever, abdominal pain and blood
poisoning.
� Channel NewsAsia
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