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Immunity
Three Steps To Help Prevent C. Diff Infections
Date: 06/01/12
If you should get sick, the last place you want to be is a hospital.
Hospitals are teeming with the most vile bacteria on earth. All it takes is a couple of doctors or nurses in a hurry to skip washing their hands, and it's curtains.
Literally...curtains...
Two recent studies found hospital curtains to be infested with all variety of germs, including Clostridium difficile (more commonly known as C. diff). And one of those studies estimated that as many as 7,000 patients are infected with C. diff EVERY DAY, in the US alone.
That's just astounding. C. diff causes diarrhoea, colitis, and other intestinal problems that are sometimes severe enough to require surgery. And because C. diff infections are most common in older patients, many of whom are already sick, C. diff can be deadly.
C. horrendous.
As usual the mainstream is ready with a drug that will solve the problem. In the case of C. Diff it's a drug called Dificid, which got it's American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stamp of approval in 2010... and it promises to treat and prevent recurrence of C. diff diarrhoea very effectively.
BUT (and there's always a but), even though trials have shown that Dificid is significantly more effective in preventing diarrhoea recurrence than the two oral antibiotics that are currently used to treat the condition, it also has a few glaring drawbacks.
The FDA listed Dificid's most common side effects as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea.
Sort of defeats the purpose don't you think? Taking a drug to treat diarrhoea only to end up suffering with it, because of the medication...
Then there's the price tag. A 10-day course of Dificid will costs around £1400 (if you choose to go private — which will probably be a strong consideration when you run the risk of catching some god-awful disease from a hospital's dirty curtains!).
However, if you're bed stricken by a punishing bout of C. diff, having a powerful drug at your disposal to treat it may seem like the only option despite the cost. Suffice to say, if that's the case, then the best solution is to not develop C. diff at all.
Three steps to help prevent C. diff infections
Step One: Wash your hands. C. diff spores can live for days on all types of surfaces. So after a visit to any public place — especially a hospital — wash your hands thoroughly.
Step Two: Avoid regular use of these three types of drugs, which have been shown to increase C. diff infection risk:
Step Three: Use a probiotic supplement whenever you're prescribed an antibiotic.
Antibiotics kill both good and bad bacteria. And low levels of good bacteria provide a perfect environment for C. diff to thrive. This is where a good probiotic supplement can help enormously. It's also a good idea to continue probiotic use for a full week after the antibiotic is finished. This isn't overkill — it's insurance.
C. difficile colitis is becoming more and more common. Since the disease is totally iatrogenic (illness caused by medical examination or treatment) it's a great cause for concern.
Who would've thought that we'd see the day when going to the doctor or hospital could end up making you more sick than you were to begin with... It's enough to give me a runny tummy...
Sources:
"Hospital privacy curtains laden with germs: study" Fran Lowry, Reuters, 9/22/11, reuters.com
"FDA approves treatment for Clostridium difficile infection" FDA News Release, 5/27/11, fda.gov
"The Hidden Price of Drugs" Andrew Pollack, New York Times, 5/31/11, prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com
"The Problem With Labeling: Too Many Side Effects" Ed Silverman, Pharmalot, 5/25/11, pharmalot.com
Back to topHospitals are teeming with the most vile bacteria on earth. All it takes is a couple of doctors or nurses in a hurry to skip washing their hands, and it's curtains.
Literally...curtains...
Two recent studies found hospital curtains to be infested with all variety of germs, including Clostridium difficile (more commonly known as C. diff). And one of those studies estimated that as many as 7,000 patients are infected with C. diff EVERY DAY, in the US alone.
That's just astounding. C. diff causes diarrhoea, colitis, and other intestinal problems that are sometimes severe enough to require surgery. And because C. diff infections are most common in older patients, many of whom are already sick, C. diff can be deadly.
C. horrendous.
As usual the mainstream is ready with a drug that will solve the problem. In the case of C. Diff it's a drug called Dificid, which got it's American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stamp of approval in 2010... and it promises to treat and prevent recurrence of C. diff diarrhoea very effectively.
BUT (and there's always a but), even though trials have shown that Dificid is significantly more effective in preventing diarrhoea recurrence than the two oral antibiotics that are currently used to treat the condition, it also has a few glaring drawbacks.
The FDA listed Dificid's most common side effects as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea.
Sort of defeats the purpose don't you think? Taking a drug to treat diarrhoea only to end up suffering with it, because of the medication...
Then there's the price tag. A 10-day course of Dificid will costs around £1400 (if you choose to go private — which will probably be a strong consideration when you run the risk of catching some god-awful disease from a hospital's dirty curtains!).
However, if you're bed stricken by a punishing bout of C. diff, having a powerful drug at your disposal to treat it may seem like the only option despite the cost. Suffice to say, if that's the case, then the best solution is to not develop C. diff at all.
Three steps to help prevent C. diff infections
Step One: Wash your hands. C. diff spores can live for days on all types of surfaces. So after a visit to any public place — especially a hospital — wash your hands thoroughly.
Step Two: Avoid regular use of these three types of drugs, which have been shown to increase C. diff infection risk:
- * Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
* H2 receptor antagonists (such as Zantac and Pepcid) to treat heartburn
* Proton pump inhibitor drugs (such as Prevacid and Prilosec) to treat heartburn
Step Three: Use a probiotic supplement whenever you're prescribed an antibiotic.
Antibiotics kill both good and bad bacteria. And low levels of good bacteria provide a perfect environment for C. diff to thrive. This is where a good probiotic supplement can help enormously. It's also a good idea to continue probiotic use for a full week after the antibiotic is finished. This isn't overkill — it's insurance.
C. difficile colitis is becoming more and more common. Since the disease is totally iatrogenic (illness caused by medical examination or treatment) it's a great cause for concern.
Who would've thought that we'd see the day when going to the doctor or hospital could end up making you more sick than you were to begin with... It's enough to give me a runny tummy...
Sources:
"Hospital privacy curtains laden with germs: study" Fran Lowry, Reuters, 9/22/11, reuters.com
"FDA approves treatment for Clostridium difficile infection" FDA News Release, 5/27/11, fda.gov
"The Hidden Price of Drugs" Andrew Pollack, New York Times, 5/31/11, prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com
"The Problem With Labeling: Too Many Side Effects" Ed Silverman, Pharmalot, 5/25/11, pharmalot.com
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