MedSleuth makes some important points about C-Diff and you should all take note of this:
Two facts about Clostridium difficile are of increasing concern. First, it is becoming resistant to antibiotic treatment, and second, it is being discovered in otherwise healthy individuals who have neither been hospitalized nor been on antibiotics
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MedSleuth goes on to quote some other important facts:
In another article in the New England Journal of Medicine, health officials said samples of the same bacterium taken from eight U.S. hospitals show it is mutating to become even more resistant to antibiotics.”
“The bacterium is Clostridium difficile, also known as C-diff. The germ is becoming a regular menace in hospitals and nursing homes, and last year it was blamed for 100 deaths over 18 months at a hospital in Quebec, Canada.
And look at this:
C-diff has grown resistant to certain antibiotics that work against other colon bacteria. The result: When patients take those antibiotics, particularly clindamycin, competing bacteria die off and C-diff explodes.
Watch out for what is coming in your door from hospitals:
The New England Journal of Medicine article looked at C-diff samples taken between 2000 and 2003 from eight hospitals in six states – Georgia, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, Oregon and Pennsylvania.
The researchers found that a virulent strain of C-diff rarely seen before 2000 accounted for more than half of the samples taken in the hospitals. What’s more, the BI strain – as it is called – seems to have built resistance to two of the newest antibiotics in the fluoroquinolones class commonly used in hospitals.
Be aware and go read the whole post by clicking here.
