Study: Deadly stomach bug more common than thought

[DogPoundPup]

Source: Ledger-Enquirer

ATLANTA --
A nasty, sometimes deadly stomach bug is at least six times more common than was thought, researchers said Tuesday, based on a survey of hundreds of U.S. hospitals.

The germ, Clostridium difficile, is resistant to some antibiotics and has become a regular menace in hospitals and nursing homes. Doctors say it plays a role in hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations each year, and that number has been growing.

The latest study estimates that more than 7,100 hospital patients are infected with it on any given day. That number is between 6.5 and 20 times greater than previous estimates, according to the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. Researchers from that group presented their findings Tuesday at a medical conference in Orlando.

"This study shows that C. difficile infection is an escalating issue in our nation's health care facilities," said Dr. William Jarvis, the study's lead investigator, in a prepared statement. Jarvis, formerly a scientist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a consulting epidemiologist hired by the association.

The study suggests that about 13 per 1,000 hospital patients have the germ.

The bacteria are found in the colon and can cause diarrhea and a more serious intestinal condition known as colitis. It can be deadly, particularly to the elderly, and has been blamed in outbreaks that have killed as many as 100 people at some hospitals.

Read more: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/251/story/506834.html

[geomon666]

1. My whole life I've never had a stomach flu.....

That was until last year when I had two particularly nasty ones hit me. One was at a birthday party (in which everybody got sick) and the other came seemingly out of nowhere.

[asjr]

2. I hate that. You are really sick if

you don't know which end to put over the commode.

[geomon666]

3. yeah, or if you have to keep switching.....

Ugh, I probably should've went to the hospital but I didn't.

[Itchinjim]

7. That's why I keep a big wastebasket in my bathroom.

You never know when they're going to come in REAL handy.

[wroberts189]

14. you betcha ....sticking face in commode will make you more sick n/t

[Terry in Austin]

17. Sometimes known as "loose ends"

x(

[FunkyLeprechaun]

20. We had a stomach bug hit the UK last December

My husband got it first then I did, unfortunately on the day we were due to go back to Birmingham from Cardiff. So it was me vomiting the rest of the way and trying to hold my other end in.

Everyone we knew got the bug someway or another in the UK. We caught it from his brother's family (who had it a couple of weeks ago).

[pipi_k]

4. I think people don't actually realize how

deadly those things can be.

My last bout with a stomach bug was in 1997 or thereabouts.

I must have lost 10 lbs or more in just three days

and the PAIN!!!!


definitely not something the elderly or people with compromised immune systems want to end up with....


:scared:

[Roland99]

13. Buddy of mine called an ambulance for himself late Sat. night.

non-stop diarrhea, pain, etc.


Nasty stuff.

[pscot]

5. I've been fighting this particular bug

for almost two months. It's not really a stomach bug. It attacks your gut and causes explosive diahrea. It often follows treatment wih intravenous antibiotics, which kill off the normal bacteria that make your bowels work. This thing moves into that sterile environment and procedes to raise hell. Chemo can have the same effect. It responds only to vancomicin, and that doesn't always work. This is one you can't ignore.

[ananda]

6. Eat natural yogurt n buttermilk for acidopholus.

nt

[marybourg]

8. It can even follow oral antibiotics

taken for just a few days for dental procedures (happened to me)or minor office surgery (happened to my neighbor). It's not limited to older folks either. 20 healthy young women, some of them pregnant, died in Canada of c.diff colitis last year. If a doc or dentist wants to give you an antibiotic, especially clindamycin or a penicillin, ask whether it's absolutely necessary. Hope you're better soon, pscot.

[pscot]

9. I'm antibiotic free and hopeful

but I thought I was over it a month ago too. I'm guardedly optimistic.

[Patiod]

15. Sorry to hear that.

Was just going to post that antimicrobials are part of the cause - but you beat me to it.

Systemic antibiotics and antifungals and are a mixed blessing

[doodadem]

10. Well, that's weird........

I vaccinate my pygmy goats with anti-clostridium, and have vaccinated my horses for it in the past. Vets will tell you they can contract disease just from eating hay/grass off the ground. It lives in the soil.

So I'm thinking.....why can't you vaccinate humans for this? There's a number of similar situations.

[Dogmudgeon]

11. I've got that now

A "mild" case of C-Diff.

It's not a fun bug to get.

I used to work in health care and we were all paranoid of C-Diff, since there are several strains that can, and do, kill the host within a few hours. (Mine, fortunately, is barely causing a fever.)

Worms are also quite common in hospitals now. My grandmother probably had a case of hospital-vectored worms when she died. I took care of her at home, and developed them, too.

I blame the ubiquity of pre-sterilized materials; in-house sterilization has become a rarity, and a small sterility failure can turn into a building-wide epidemic. And delicate electronics devices aren't thoroughly sterilized at all -- particularly colonoscopes.

--p!

[loudsue]

19. Please check your PM...

:hi:

[Hubert Flottz]

12. Anything that tastes as nasty as the "food" they bring you in the

hospital can't be good for you. I always fake getting better when I'm in there, so I can hurry up and get out and get some real food, instead of that cardboard tasting swill. That stuff don't just attack your taste buds, it smells bad too. I think the stinky bad tasting hospital food, is the very reason, that you see so damned many sick people in those places.

[electron_blue]

16. My daughter was diagnosed with this when she was 2.5 and it was an ordeal,

which is probably and understatement, to bring it under control. Here's a health tip: when you're on antibiotics, eliminate all extraneous white sugar and starches that you can. It'll help reduce your risk of developing a C-diff attack.

[The Doctor.]

18. Wow... "difficult" bacteria...

Can take advantage of antibiotic treatment which essentially eliminates competition.

That alone is serious reason for concern.