Hospital ward where rare bug struck set to reopen to public

THE hospital ward closed down by an outbreak of a rare bug is to reopen.

Ward four at Liberton Hospital has begun accepting new patients after strict infection control measures were introduced when two patients died from Group A Streptococcal.

All elderly people who remained in that ward were screened for the infection and health chiefs decided it was safe to admit new patients.

Dr Patrick Gibb, consultant microbiologist and chair of the Incident Management Team for NHS Lothian, said: "The risk of anyone else on the ward developing the infection is now the same as if they were in the community.

"We have screened and, where necessary, treated both patients and staff to prevent re-infection and there have been no new cases for a fortnight."

An 86-year-old woman died at the end of January, while an 82-year-old man contracted the illness – and although he received antibiotic treatment – died a fortnight later following complications.