Part of Charlottetown's Queen Elizabeth Hospital was locked down Monday afternoon and night, and has since reopened after a patient tested positive for a superbug.

'We're putting the admissions on reverse isolation procedures, which means they are isolated for their own protection.'— Rick Adams, Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Hospital officials are still trying to determine the source of the bacteria. All the patients in Unit 3 have been tested. In addition, environmental swabs have been done throughout the unit. It could take several days to get the results back.

Officials won't say which superbug, Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), was discovered Monday.

Unit 3 was reopened Tuesday, with special procedures in place to deal with new patients.

"For any admissions, we're putting the admissions on reverse isolation procedures, which means they are isolated for their own protection," said hospital executive director Rick Adams.

"They are being introduced to an environment where there may be antibiotic-resistant organisms, and the results of the tests are not back yet. The rooms have been thoroughly cleaned, so we're confident that as long as they are isolated in their rooms, precautions are certainly reasonable and adequate."

Adams said staff members have not been tested.

The hospital only recently declared the end of an outbreak of MRSA and VRE. The bacteria first showed up in the nursery last spring, and the hospital put severe restrictions on visitors to control the outbreak.