EIGHT patients found to be carrying the antibiotic-resistant bacteria affecting Singapore General Hospital (SGH) have been discharged.
Dr Asok Kurup, a consultant with the department of internal medicine at SGH, said the medical conditions that had brought the eight people into hospital had now stabilised.
Though the eight may still be carriers of VRE, they are not suffering any symptoms of bacterial infection and are very unlikely to pass the bacteria on to anyone else, said Dr Kurup.
'There is no need to be alarmed. Once you are discharged, you are well, you are fine,' he added.
They were among 42 SGH patients who have been detected so far with vancomycin-resistant enterococci, a microbe found mainly in hospitals that mostly affects patients who are already gravely ill.
As of yesterday, 30 patients are still in isolation, while four have died.
However, the hospital has stressed that the deaths were not caused by VRE, but other illnesses.
Most of the 42 patients affected were elderly patients and only one had symptoms of bacterial infection.
Dr Ling Moi Lin, director of SGH's department of quality management, said family members and friends of the eight who have been discharged have little to worry about as the VRE bacteria is generally harmless to healthy people.
She said patients most at risk are those whose immune systems had already been compromised by other illnesses.
As a result, measures such as contact tracing of patients, which was carried out during the Sars outbreak two years ago, are not necessary, Dr Kurup said.
Instead, only lists of patients, whom the hospital suspects could have come into contact with the bacteria, have been distributed to other hospitals and clinics, which will enable them to take the necessary precautions should these patients go elsewhere for treatment.
Meanwhile the hospital is taking aggressive measures to stop the outbreak, its largest ever.
A workforce has been formed to prevent the spread among patients and ensure that the bacteria does not become entrenched in the hospital.
Besides isolating those found to be carrying or infected with VRE, the hospital has also screened more than 1,000 in-patients by taking their stool samples since March 9, when the first case of VRE was discovered.
Hospital staff are required to wash their hands after contact with every patient, non-essential surgery has been suspended for two weeks, the use of antibiotics has been restricted in the hospital, and staff who deal with VRE patients are properly gloved and gowned.
In addition, every patient currently warded in SGH is allowed to have only two visitors during visiting hours. Said Dr Kurup: 'I hope the bacteria will not be entrenched here and we will do all we can to rid the hospital of the germ.'