Ever wonder why your physician seems so cautious about prescribing antibiotics for your more common illnesses? Besides the fact that antibiotics do not cure flu or the common cold caused by viruses, a serious life-threatening malady may occur from the overuse of antibiotics. This 3-part series will give you an understanding of the dangerous intestinal tract bacteria known as C difficile (Clostridium difficile), more commonly called C. diff.
The dangerous pathogen causes symptoms ranging from mild diarrhea to bad or even deadly inflammation of the colon or large intestine. C. diff most often occurs during or within a few months of a physician’s treatment of antibiotics used to clear up a previous body infection. Because antibiotics may kill off both good and bad bacteria in the gut, harmful bacteria such as C difficile may grow out of control. The bug then produces toxins that destroy the mucosal lining of the colon.
How prevalent is this disease? It is estimated that a half-million Americans, or 10 percent more individuals each year, get sick from the bacteria. C. diff infections have become more frequent, severe, and difficult to treat, while affecting younger and healthier individuals. Now with a more toxic strain that appears to have developed some resistance to at least one of the drugs used by doctors to treat it, C. diff may be found in 37 states and in the District of Columbia, according to Web MD.
Some people carrying the bacteria in their intestines may not get sick, but can still transmit the pathogen to others. According to Sherman Hospital’s Dec. 12, 2012 Health Pamphlet, the germ can spread easily on bed rails, bed pans, and stethoscopes, as well as on the hands of visitors and caregivers in medical centers. It can also spread at nursing facilities and hospitals with less than optimum sanitary conditions and with weakened seniors providing hosts for the germ. It is no wonder many health care providers consider numbers to be reaching epidemic proportions.
According to Web MD, recent reports show adult hospitalizations from C. diff reached 300,000 patients per year in 2005, doubling since 2000. This was far greater than the numbers seen with MRSA (during that time period), which sent about 126,000 adults yearly to hospitals.
Sherman Hospital explains C diff symptoms. For those who don’t get very ill: “These include having watery diarrhea, abdominal pain, and cramping.” Then there are those who, when infected, develop serious problems, like “severe diarrhea, fever, and blood or pus in the stool.”
While symptoms may appear within a few days to a week or more after antibiotics have been taken, the hospital’s report concludes: “But they [symptoms] may also appear weeks or even months later.” We are warned to call a doctor immediately if we have been given antibiotics recently and develop the above colon health issues.
Confirmation of serious illness occurs through a stool sampling of toxins given off by the harmful bacteria. Here is Sherman Hospital’s recommended treatment:
1. Stop use of previous antibiotics prescribed for another ailment.
2. Another medicine may be tried by your health provider for that previous problem. A specific antibiotic aimed at helping the large intestine may then also be attempted by your doctor.
3. Fluids next will be introduced through an IV placed in the arm when necessary.
4. To restore a better balance of bacteria in the colon, probiotics will then be given to the patient. These can be taken during and after C. diff drug treatment and can be found at many grocery stores, most natural food stores, and in pharmacy departments.
5. No diarrhea medication will be allowed, unless prescribed by your doctor
6. Dietary changes will be made, such as avoidance of fruit, spicy food, and dairy products with the exception of yogurt.
7. Lastly there will be instruction to the patient and family members/caregiver on washing hands thoroughly to prevent further spreading of germs.
What if none of these measures fully helps your condition or, after having been treated, your C difficile symptoms return? Read Part 2 for “A different kind of transplant.”
