C. Diff Research Paper

Clostridium difficile infection or CDI is a disease that is caused from a severe mishap of the microbiota in the gut by antibiotics. This causes the patient to have persistent diarrheal problems from mild symptoms to very extreme and severe symptoms. In the past twenty years, this infection has been on the rise in numbers of problems in public health and has even caused a number of deaths. Although this is not the only infection the transplant can help conquer, C.difficile a great example to portray since in the past ten years it has become a growing health problem.

Clostridium difficile is a particularly challenging and difficult infection to control. Because Clostridium difficile spores can live on dry surfaces for long periods of time, teaching must include the importance of cleaning surfaces and

Clostridium difficile (C. diff) is a type of bacterium that can cause a person to endure diarrhea like symptoms to more drastic symptoms that may involve inflammation of the colon. Most people who come across C. diff are expected to be in a hospital setting for an extensive period of time. It is more accessible to acquire C. diff when a person is of old age, in a hospital setting, and taking antibiotic medication (Mayo Clinic, 2016). Normally, one would think that taking antibiotics would not cause any harm to the body, but would instead help the body fight off diseases. However, once a person who has been taking antibiotics for a long period of time stops taking them, such as in a nursing home or hospital setting, that person can develop some reactions in the absence of those antibiotics (Bartlett, 2012). This reaction, then allows the person to experience diarrhea symptoms, which lead to inflammation of the colon and more drastic colon problems.

The primary problem is the patient is having severe dehydration due to excessively having loose liquidly stools for the past two days caused by C. Diff.

Clostridium difficile is a Gram-positive, spore-forming, rod-shaped bacillus that is renowned for being the leading cause of hospital-acquired diarrhea in adult patients. C. difficile is present as normal intestinal flora within 3% to 5% of healthy people2, while its spores are ubiquitous in the environment, especially in hospital settings. It grows at an optimal temperature and pH of 37ºC and 6.5–7.5 respectively.1 It is an obligate anaerobic as it thrives in the absence of oxygen. It is highly motile with the presence of peritrichous flagella, which are evenly spread out along its surface. As briefly mentioned above, this evolving pathogen produces endospores. The bacterium produces dormant spores, which are extremely hardy and resistant to antibiotics, the host’s innate immune system, and once shed into the environment through the host’s feces, they are resistant to unfavorable aerobic conditions3 as well as several types of bleach-free disinfectants, which are commonly used in hospitals.3 The spores will germinate under the favorable conditions of the intestinal tract, resulting in the multiplication of vegetative cells, colonizing in the gastrointestinal tract. The vegetative cells release two powerful exotoxins upon adherence to the epithelial cells of the GI tract. Pathogenic strains of C. difficile produce two exotoxins: toxin A and toxin B. Toxin A is an enterotoxin that causes fluid excretion, resulting in fluid accumulation and watery diarrhea. Toxin B is a potent

Clostridium Difficile (C-Diff) is considered one of the most common infections a patient can acquire within their hospital stay. It is estimated that C-Diff is responsible for 337,000 infections and 14,000 deaths a year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). Working in the emergency department (ED), I have witness first hand how debilitating this gastrointestinal infection can be. Patients are admitted to the ED for having severe watery diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fever. Elderly patients are at increase risk for sepsis and dehydration related to recurrent infections. Appropriate management and education of C-Diff is optimal for patient survival and decrease contamination across lifespan.

Hospitalizations are another main cause of the spreading of the C-diff infection. It takes place in all healthcare facilities, due to the fact that a large number of hospitalized individuals are treated with antibiotics. In hospitals the spread of C-diff can be present on peoples hands, due to poor hand hygiene, bedrails, toilets, thermometers, sinks and even on

Clostridium difficile is a gram-positive, spore-forming, anaerobic bacillus. Since the turn of the 21st century, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of nosocomial infections associated with antibiotic exposure and an increase in the severity of the disease. Challenges of disease containment include emerging risk factors and recurrence. In 2008 the acute care costs, not including the economic burden placed outside of the hospital, was estimated to be around $4.8 billion in the US. As such, it has become clear that preventative measures are needed to monitor and reduce the risk of infection and recurrence.

Clostridium difficile involves a gram-positive spore-forming bacterium, which is a normal element of the colon flora in people. The Clostridium difficile can cause antibiotic-associated diarrhea when the competing bacteria in the gut flora are all killed by antibiotic treatment. The Clostridium difficile infection is one of the serious healthcare-related infection and also a rising health care problem. In the early 1970s, the Clostridium difficile has been known to have the ability to cause pseudomembranous colitis. As stated, the infection is the most cause of nosocomial infectious diarrhea (Aktories & Wilkins, 2000). Individuals that are colonized with clostridium difficile serve as the reservoir for infection and this is by contaminating the environment with spores of such bacteria. This will lead to the spread of the organism on the health care worker’s hands or even through the use of medical equipment. In this paper, we are going to focus on the effective prevention strategies for clostridium difficile. What are the effective prevention strategies for clostridium difficile?

I chose these answers because Clostridium difficile because it is a contact infection and it can spread without being treated. The correct answers are “Client in single-room (private) Isolation”, and “Nurse wearing disposable gown”. The rationale is that alcohol-based sanitizers does not kill C. difficile spores and C. difficile requires contact precautions, so the patient needs to be in an isolated room or with others who have C. difficile. The disposable and gloves must be discarded before leaving to room, so the nurse won’t spread the C.

Clostridium is one of the most common food poisoning in the USA. Also it used the less time for regeneration or multiplication of endospores.

Ever since I’ve been working in long-term care facilities and hospitals for almost fourteen years, my multiple encounters with Clostridium difficile become prevalent as the years go by. The incidence of its unprecedented spread has increased dramatically in the past decade. This observation was proven by the recent National and State Healthcare Associated Infections Progress Report, published March, 2014 by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which suggests that C. difficile has replaced methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus as the most common cause of the health-care associated infection, specifically showing the national standardized infection ratio of 0.98 for hospital-onset C. diff infection against 0.96 for MRSA bloodstream infection. The etymology of the rising new “superbug” Clostridium difficile, also known as C. diff is derived from the Greek word klōstēr which means spindle and Latin difficile, “difficult, obstinate”. The genus name, Clostridium is used because under the microscope, the colonies of these bacteria looks like spindles used in cloth weaving and long sticks with a bulge at the end. The species name difficile owing to the fact that when first identified by Hall and O’Toole in 1935 the organism was hard to isolate and grew slowly in pure culture. Based on Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, 2nd Ed., C. difficile belong to domain bacteria, phylum Firmicutes, class Clostridia, order Clostridiales, and family

C. diff is a gram-positive, rod shaped bacterium. It is also spore forming and anaerobic, which means that it is able to live in dirt for up to two years. Human and animal feces are where this bacterium is most commonly found. These are not the only places though; C. diff can also be found in soil, air, water, and processed meat. C, diff can be found in many healthy people intestines or colon. You can carry the bacteria with no symptoms because the millions of good bacteria in you are able to keep it under control. C. diff because present and starts to cause problems when you take antibiotics. The antibiotics kill off the good bacteria in you allowing the resilient C. diff to overpopulate. The spores’ produce when antibiotics attack the bacteria (APIC). The antibiotics that most commonly cause C. diff are fluoroquinolones, cephalosporins, penicillins and clindamycin (Mayo Clinic, 2016). Being on antibiotics is not the only way to get infected. C. diff is highly contagious. If people are not washing their hands thoroughly it can easily be spread along any surface and even into

I learned about C. diff the hard way. In October of 2013, I was diagnosed with a C. diff infection following the use of Clindamycin. I was prescribed vancomycin to get rid of the C.diff but every time I stopped the vancomycin the C.diff would return. It took me six months of being deathly ill, rounds of failed vancomycin treatments and going from doctor to doctor before I found relief in the form of a Fecal Microbiota Transplantation(FMT). Still, I live with the fear that the next time I am prescribed antibiotic, the C. diff will return. After struggling with C. diff and experiencing the challenges and obstacles within in the medical community, I decided I wanted to make a difference in the world of C. diff. I became an advocate to try and

Most of the public have heard of broad-spectrum drugs, especially in terms of antibiotic resistance, because they fight a wide range of bacteria but also kills normal flora in the gut (Haddox, 2013). The loss of this gut flora can lead to an abnormal growth of harmful bacteria such as clostridium difficile (C-Diff). The four “C” antibiotics that have a high risk for patient to develop C-diff are clindamycin, cephalosporins, coamoxiclav, and ciprofloxacin (Haddox, 2013). These antibiotics have the highest risk of leading to C-diff development, however all antibiotics increase a patient’s likelihood of a C-diff infection. This effect can last up to 12 weeks post antibiotic administration (Haddox, 2013).