The Niagara Health System has declared a C. difficile outbreak at the St. Catharines General Hospital.

The outbreak covers C3 East.

Five patients in the unit have tested positive for hospital associated C. difficile in the last two weeks, prompting the outbreak declaration since it's above the normal threshold.

Four affected patients are still in the unit.

The NHS says no deaths have been tied to the outbreak.

Interim Chief of Staff Dr. Joanna Hope says fighting superbugs is a reality for all hospital and will always be a challenge.

Meanwhile, an outbreak of enteric declared February 11th at the Douglas Memorial  in Welland has been declared over.