C. Dificile On The Rise In U.S. Hospitals
Data collected by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and epidemiology shows that 13 out of every 1000 hospital patients are infected with Clostridium Difficile, a number that is 20 times higher than previous estimates.
They examined 648 hospitals, encompassing 12.5 percent of all U.S. facilities. Included was a wide variety, ranging from acute care units to cancer treatment centers to children’s facilities.
C. difficile can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to perforation of the bowel, and can be deadly, especially to older, more frail patients.
C. difficile is very resistant to detection and treatment. It is hard to grow in a culture, so doctors have a difficult time diagnosing a patient with the disease. Further, regular strength antibiotics only serve to kill off a person’s naturally-occurring intestinal bacteria, allowing the C. Dificile bacterium to take hold. It creats spores that can only be killed by bleach.
Other studies have shown that various infections are on the rise in other countries, including a form of Staphylococcus aureus which is resistant to drugs.