Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2012/03/07/the-latest-on-clostridium-difficile-from-the-cdc/
* March 7, 2012, 8:56 AM
The Latest on Clostridium Difficile, From the CDC
By Katherine Hobson
The Health Blog has been writing about the nasty bug Clostridium difficile for a while now. As other infections associated with health-care contact have gone down, C. diff infections have been on the rise ? and only recently have leveled off. Some 14,000 deaths each year are linked to the bug, which lives in the gut and can cause diarrhea.
The CDC had some new stats on C. diff yesterday. Specifically, it says that 94% of the infections in 2010 were picked up after an encounter with the health-care system ? say, a stay in a nursing-home or rehab facility.
While this was traditionally thought to be mostly a problem for hospitals, the CDC report finds that 75% of those health-care-associated infections had onset in people who weren?t currently hospitalized. That includes patients recently discharged from the hospital, outpatients and nursing-home residents.
?This is a patient-safety concern everywhere medical care is given,? said L. Clifford McDonald, a medical epidemiologist with the CDC, on a teleconference with reporters.
More than half of infections reported to the National Healthcare Safety Network were actually present on hospital admission, the report says. Hospitals ?are partly at the mercy of surrounding facilities because patients so often transfer back and forth? between them, said McDonald...
* March 7, 2012, 8:56 AM
The Latest on Clostridium Difficile, From the CDC
By Katherine Hobson
The Health Blog has been writing about the nasty bug Clostridium difficile for a while now. As other infections associated with health-care contact have gone down, C. diff infections have been on the rise ? and only recently have leveled off. Some 14,000 deaths each year are linked to the bug, which lives in the gut and can cause diarrhea.
The CDC had some new stats on C. diff yesterday. Specifically, it says that 94% of the infections in 2010 were picked up after an encounter with the health-care system ? say, a stay in a nursing-home or rehab facility.
While this was traditionally thought to be mostly a problem for hospitals, the CDC report finds that 75% of those health-care-associated infections had onset in people who weren?t currently hospitalized. That includes patients recently discharged from the hospital, outpatients and nursing-home residents.
?This is a patient-safety concern everywhere medical care is given,? said L. Clifford McDonald, a medical epidemiologist with the CDC, on a teleconference with reporters.
More than half of infections reported to the National Healthcare Safety Network were actually present on hospital admission, the report says. Hospitals ?are partly at the mercy of surrounding facilities because patients so often transfer back and forth? between them, said McDonald...
