Staying Healthy
Clostridium difficile: An intestinal infection on the rise
Intestinal infection known as C. diff can spread through spores and cause diarrhea
Why would you get an intestinal infection, like C. diff, from treating a different illness with antibiotics?
When you're admitted to a hospital, you expect to receive tests and treatments that will make you feel better. When you get antibiotics in the hospital, you expect that the drugs will treat or prevent infection. But it doesn't always work that way. A distressing number of patients acquire infections while they are in the hospital. And antibiotic therapy can actually increase the odds of coming down with a hospital-acquired infection, particularly when the cause is a bacterium named Clostridium difficile. Although doctors are working hard to control intestinal infections caused by the bug commonly (if not fondly) known as C. diff, the problem is rapidly becoming more common, more serious, and harder to treat.
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