Skip to main content

Nowhere to hide from diarrhea-causing bacteria: study

Otherwise healthy people with a diarrhea-causing infection may have picked up the bacteria in doctors' offices or other healthcare sites, according to a new government study that also hints heartburn medications might increase the risk.

Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that about 82 percent of Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, cases in healthy people occurred after visiting healthcare settings - like doctors' offices and emergency rooms.

 

"I think people should be aware of the source," said Dr. Fernanda Lessa, a medical epidemiologist in the surveillance branch of the division of healthcare quality promotion of the CDC and the study's senior author.

People typically pick up C. diff bacteria, which can cause severe diarrhea, during a hospital stay - especially after antibiotics kill off beneficial gut bacteria, allowing harmful bacteria to thrive.

But C. diff has been increasingly reported in young and healthy people who didn't stay in the hospital, Lessa and her colleagues write in JAMA Internal Medicine, adding that between 20 and 28 percent of C. diff cases are in healthy people.

To get a better understanding of possible sources of C. diff infections among otherwise healthy people, Lessa and her colleagues analyzed telephone interviews with 984 infected people in eight states from 2009 through mid-2011.

Overall, the team found that 18 percent didn't report any recent visits to a healthcare facility. The rest did report visiting doctors' or dentists' offices or even having been in a hospital for less than a day, such as for outpatient surgery.

Those locations can be the source of C. diff infections in two ways - direct contact with contaminated surfaces or, indirectly, from healthcare providers prescribing antibiotics that kill off friendly bacteria and leave a person more vulnerable to C. diff.

About 64 percent of the infected people reported taking antibiotics during the previous 12 weeks. Those who took antibiotics were also more likely to have some sort of exposure to a healthcare facility.

Other possible sources of exposure to the C. diff bacteria are infected family members - especially babies, who can carry the bacteria without showing any symptoms.

The study participants who weren't exposed to a healthcare facility were also less likely to have taken antibiotics, but more of them were exposed to a third possible risk factor: heartburn drugs known as proton-pump inhibitors, which are used to control stomach acid.

Previous research has tied proton-pump inhibitors - such as Prilosec and Nexium - to C. diff in healthy people. That evidence led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to issue a warning about the association in February 2012, according to Dr. Kent Sepkowitz, in a commentary accompanying the new study.

"People should just be cautious about taking them willy-nilly. There are certainly people who need to take them, but then there are many who don't," said Sepkowitz, director of infection control at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Dr. Peter Green from the Celiac Disease Center as Columbia University in New York said the drugs may create a hospitable environment for the C. diff bacteria to survive or - like antibiotics - they may disrupt the colon's "good" bacteria.

"It's very interesting because these proton-pump inhibitors are very widely used. People tend to get them and they just stay on them. Part of that is that they actually work to reduce heartburn symptoms," he said.

Green, who was not involved with the new study, said doctors are trying to get some people off the drugs because of their associations with C. diff, osteoporosis and other gastrointestinal infections.

_0">

"They're being used much more than is really necessary," he said.

_1">

Lessa cautioned, however, that it's not possible to draw firm conclusions from their study about what's causing the infections because it didn't compare the C. diff patients with a control group.

_2">

"The next step now is that we're undertaking a case-control study, enrolling patients without C. diff infections and test the hypotheses that were raised by this study," she said.

_3">

SOURCE: bit.ly/10y9upJ JAMA Internal Medicine, online June 17, 2013.

_4">

Popular posts from this blog

Study Abroad USA, College of Charleston, Popular Courses, Alumni

Thinking for Study Abroad USA. School of Charleston, the wonderful grounds is situated in the actual middle of a verifiable city - Charleston. Get snatched up by the wonderful and customary engineering, beautiful pathways, or look at the advanced steel and glass building which houses the School of Business. The grounds additionally gives students simple admittance to a few major tech organizations like Amazon's CreateSpace, Google, TwitPic, and so on. The school offers students nearby as well as off-grounds convenience going from completely outfitted home lobbies to memorable homes. It is prepared to offer different types of assistance and facilities like clubs, associations, sporting exercises, support administrations, etc. To put it plainly, the school grounds is rising with energy and there will never be a dull second for students at the College of Charleston. Concentrate on Abroad USA is improving and remunerating for your future. The energetic grounds likewise houses various

Best MBA Online Colleges in the USA

“Opportunities never open, instead we create them for us”. Beginning with this amazing saying, let’s unbox today’s knowledge. Love Business and marketing? Want to make a high-paid career in business administration? Well, if yes, then mate, we have got you something amazing to do!   We all imagine an effortless future with a cozy house and a laptop. Well, well! You can make this happen. Today, with this guide, we will be exploring some of the top-notch online MBA universities and institutes in the USA. Let’s get started! Why learn Online MBA from the USA? Access to More Options This online era has given a second chance to children who want to reflect on their careers while managing their hectic schedules. In this, the internet has played a very crucial in rejuvenating schools, institutes, and colleges to give the best education to students across the globe. Graduating with Less Debt Regular classes from high reputed institutes often charge heavy tuition fees. However onl

Sickening moment maskless 'Karen' COUGHS in the face of grocery store customer, then claims she doesn't have to wear a mask because she 'isn't sick'

A woman was captured on camera following a customer through a supermarket as she coughs on her after claiming she does not need a mask because she is not sick.  Video of the incident, which has garnered hundreds of thousands of views on Twitter alone, allegedly took place in a Su per Saver in Lincoln, Nebraska according to Twitter user @davenewworld_2. In it, an unidentified woman was captured dramatically coughing as she smiles saying 'Excuse me! I'm coming through' in the direction of the customer recording her. Scroll down for video An unidentified woman was captured dramatically coughing as she smiles saying 'Excuse me! I'm coming through' in the direction of a woman recording her A woman was captured on camera following a customer as she coughs on her in a supermarket without a mask on claiming she does not need one because she is not sick @chaiteabugz #karen #covid #karens #karensgonewild #karensalert #masks we were just wearing a mask at the store. ¿ o