Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=b4846fd2-09a4-4251-a697-9176d8b28a48
C. difficile superbug not always tied to antibiotics: study
Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, October 06, 2008
MONTREAL - Infection with potentially deadly Clostridium difficile is often linked to antibiotic use, but new research suggests that other factors might be involved in the spread of the highly contagious superbug.
In study of infection in the community, McGill University researcher Sandra Dial found that most of the patients who got sick and were hospitalized because of C. difficile had not been taking antibiotic drugs prior to getting the infection.
C. difficile is mainly known as a hospital-acquired infection, but the study participants - 836 people aged 65 and over - had not been hospitalized for at least 90 days before being admitted for their infection.
"One reason we did this, is that a lot of emphasis is placed on antibiotics and trying to find a culprit. We are saying you need to look at this disease more broadly," Dial said.
Dial's team concluded that about 50 per cent of community acquired C. difficile infections are not related to prior antibiotic use.
Patients with severe diarrhea, especially elderly patients who end up in the hospital, should be tested for C. difficile even if there's no prior history of antibiotics, Dial said.
It's a contagious disease that proliferates more easily in areas of proximity, like hospitals, where transmission is detected more often than in the community, she said.
In Ontario, a recent provincial audit held after an infection outbreak claimed several lives, blamed poor hand hygiene and housekeeping standards for turning local hospitals into a breeding ground of contagion.
Montreal health officials say the infection rates are dropping slowly since an outbreak killed more than 110 people in 2004.
C. difficile superbug not always tied to antibiotics: study
Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, October 06, 2008
MONTREAL - Infection with potentially deadly Clostridium difficile is often linked to antibiotic use, but new research suggests that other factors might be involved in the spread of the highly contagious superbug.
In study of infection in the community, McGill University researcher Sandra Dial found that most of the patients who got sick and were hospitalized because of C. difficile had not been taking antibiotic drugs prior to getting the infection.
C. difficile is mainly known as a hospital-acquired infection, but the study participants - 836 people aged 65 and over - had not been hospitalized for at least 90 days before being admitted for their infection.
"One reason we did this, is that a lot of emphasis is placed on antibiotics and trying to find a culprit. We are saying you need to look at this disease more broadly," Dial said.
Dial's team concluded that about 50 per cent of community acquired C. difficile infections are not related to prior antibiotic use.
Patients with severe diarrhea, especially elderly patients who end up in the hospital, should be tested for C. difficile even if there's no prior history of antibiotics, Dial said.
It's a contagious disease that proliferates more easily in areas of proximity, like hospitals, where transmission is detected more often than in the community, she said.
In Ontario, a recent provincial audit held after an infection outbreak claimed several lives, blamed poor hand hygiene and housekeeping standards for turning local hospitals into a breeding ground of contagion.
Montreal health officials say the infection rates are dropping slowly since an outbreak killed more than 110 people in 2004.