Clostridium Difficile is a nasty bug. It is the close relative of Clostriudium Botulinum, which causes botulism, a fatal infection.
Like Botulinum, Difficile is a bug that does not sicken in the conventional way. What sickens the patient is the toxin released by the bacteria.
Clostriudium Difficile is becoming almost ubiquitous, especially in hospital settings, where it can cause serious illness and death in patients who have undergone surgery.
Efforts are being made to curb the incidence of the infection, but new research suggests that the hospital prophylaxis falls woefully short of eliminating cross contamination.
Although Clostriudium D. is by now also present in the food chain, it poses much greater dangers in the hospital settings. In addition, some Difficile strains are starting to show increasing signs of antibiotic resistance.
A study in a Geneva University Hospital in Switzerland, shows that all professionals should clean their hands with alcohol based rubbing, in addition to the soap and water routine traditionally employed.
The problem rests with the bacterium's own incredible resistance and persistance. Gloves are not an absolute barrier either. The importance of routine double disinfection, even in the absence of ascertained outbreak should be stressed.
In the US, the CDC sees C. Difficile as one of the most serious health threats. Almost 14,000 people die in the US of the infection.
One of the things that can cause an infection is the assumption of a certain class of antibiotics during medical care or surgery. Those antibiotics alter the flora in the intestine and allow the C. Difficile to flourish, with the subsequent release of powerful toxins and debilitating if not life threatening symptoms.
The study showed that in the hospital observed, of those workers/doctors who treated individuals infected with C. Difficile, almost 25% had spores of the bacterium in their hands. This is due to the fact that gloves might not have been employed, or after doing high risk care of the patient, such as handling fecal matter, or a rectal exam, or even a colonoscopy. That average was even higher in regular staff, almost 42% and lowest in nurses.
In a separate study, a bacteria eating virus has been found that specifically targets the strain of Clostridium Difficile.
Source : MNT/ 1.8.14
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