Washing your hands carefully especially when in hospital is the simplest way people can help to prevent an outbreak of the CPE superbug – a threat facing hospitals at present.
That’s according to Dr. Anthony Breslin, Specialist in Public Health Medicine with the HSE North West who has been speaking to Ocean FM News after the Minister for Health set up a National Public Health Emergency Team to deal with the CPE threat facing Irish hospitals.
In fact, Dr. Breslin says the setting up of this team is not a step taken likely by the HSE as the team usually only convened in times of a pandemic like Ebola which shows just how seriously the HSE is taking this threat.
The CPE superbug which is carried in the bowel is resistant to most of the even strongest anti-biotics.
So far this year, 306 people are confirmed as having it but thankfully there are no cases so far in the North West at either of the acute hospitals in Letterkenny or Sligo.
However, Dr. Anthony Breslin says it’s vital that we keep it out as if it gets into a hospital setting it causes havoc as was the case last year when there was an outbreak at Dungloe Hospital in Donegal:
He warns that washing your hands thoroughly is the best way to prevent its spread.
The HSE has also issued a warning about a potential measles outbreak after five cases emerged in the east of the country.
Dr. Breslin says parents are delaying getting the MMR vaccination and it is posing a risk for the virus to spread:
