Study: C. Diff Spreading Outside Of Hospitals

NBC News reports that “more than 450,000 Americans” are infected by “the deadly bug Clostridium difficile each year, according to a new report” published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study cites antibiotic overuse as a primary “driver” of C. diff infection, and “showed people are not just getting infected in hospitals,” as infections have stemmed from “doctors’ offices, the dentist’s chair, and other healthcare settings,” NBC reports.

USA Today also reports the study, adding that in 2011, about 29,000 deaths were associated with C. diff, according to the study. It also reports, “C. diff is the most common health care-associated infection in the USA, costing hospitals $4.8 billion a year, according to the CDC,” which participated in the study. Moreover, USA Today reports that more than 80 percent of patients who contracted C. diff outside of hospitals “had visited outpatient doctor’s or dentist’s offices in the previous 12 weeks, according to the CDC.” C. diff bacteria “are hardy” and will survive on bed linens, bathroom fixtures and medical equipment, the CDC said, and hand sanitizers don’t kill C. diff.

Opportunistic Infections

One of the most common infections to occur when your health has been compromised, mostly due to antibiotic use or over-use, is Clostridia difficile, also known as “C. diff.”  It is estimated about a half million people in this country contract C. diff every year, and in 2011 there were 29,000 deaths attributed to C. diff.  If you have to take an antibiotic, consider taking a probiotic a couple of hours before or after your antibiotic dose, in order to restore and re-balance your gastro-intestinal microbial flora.