'Super bug' may be linked to poor hygiene: expert
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An infectious disease expert says the outbreak of the VRE 'super bug' in a New South Wales north coast hospital is likely due to poor hygiene and infection control.
A total of 22 people in Coffs Harbour Health Campus have been infected by the antibiotic resistant bacteria.
All elective surgery at the hospital has been cancelled, and it is not known when it will resume.
Professor Peter Collingnon from the Australian National University says there are several probable causes for the outbreak.
"Often it's a mixture of things, it's not just one thing, but the fact that if you've got the one strain that has gone to 22 people within a hospital, that would imply that there's been less than perfect infection control, hygiene, crowding, all those issues would have contributed to that," he said.
