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Friday March 9, 9:53 AMVirulent strain of enteritis bacteria found for 1st time in Japan(Kyodo) _ A highly virulent strain of enteritis bacteria linked to some fatalities in North American hospitals has been found in feces samples of two people who contracted enteritis a few years ago, marking the first known reports of the strain in Japan, sources at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases said Friday.The institute is calling on medical institutions to be on increased alert against a possible spread of the strain of clostridium difficile, or C. diff, the sources said. The institute discovered the strain in feces samples from a man in his 30s who developed the illness in 2001 and a woman in her 30s who had the disease in 2005. The strain was identified in a recent investigation conducted by researchers alerted by a rising number of infections in North America, the sources said. How exactly the two contracted the strain has not been known. The woman was an inpatient, while the man had no history of being hospitalized. Both, however, are known to have developed symptoms of enteritis after doses of antibiotics and recovered after changing drugs and taking other treatments. Bacteria are known to multiply abnormally when their balance in the intestines is broken after a course of antibiotics. The strain found this time is the variant type 027 that releases a larger volume of toxic substances than other strains. Since 2002, a number of infections of patients have been reported in the United States and Canada. Its fatality rate is around 7 percent, higher than common types. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention is also on raised alert. There have also been reports of infection recently in Europe. |
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