The difficulties of Clostridium difficile: Examining the risks of nosocomial bacteria Checking in to the hospital comes with a heavy price tag, and sometimes you get more than what you bargained for. As highly trained doctors, nurses, and staff traverse through the hospital, they carry with them microbial agents of disease. Although regarded as centers for treatment and prevention, hospitals are also known to harbor nosocomial, healthcare-associated, bacterial infections. These infections can be a result of overused or inappropriately used antibiotics and the breaching of infection containment policies by patients and staff. Though healthcare-associated infections have been decreasing, one infection inciting nosocomial bacterium, …show more content…
Origins & Prevalence: First discovered in 1935 by Hall and O’Toole, Clostridium difficile (C.diff) earned its name from the Latin difficilis, due to its difficulty in culturability when it was initially isolated. Though its cytotoxic nature was acknowledged, it wasn’t until 1978, when the antibiotic clindamycin was being widely used, that C. diff was recognized for causing disease in humans. Since then, the incidences of C. diff infections have increased significantly, becoming an epidemic in both Canada and the United States.
Life Cycle:
C. diff is a gram-positive, spore forming, anaerobic bacterium. It exists in two stages- a vegetative growth stage, and a dormant spore stage. Obtaining energy in its vegetative stage through the fermentation of organic substances such as nitrogen and carbon substrates, the bacterium is able to grow and divide by binary fission. Contrastingly, when conditions are unfavorable, C. diff enters a highly resistant spore stage that remains unaffected by heat, drying, cold, antibiotics, and acidic environments. The spore stage is that which asymptomatically colonizes in the normal intestinal flora of about 5% of healthy adults. As individuals with the bacteria shed spores through their feces, these spores can get transmitted to dry surfaces such as doorknobs, toilets, tables, chairs, and medical instruments. Having contacted these surfaces, the spores can survive for up to 2 years. Transmitted through the
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.
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
C-Diff is an anaerobic gram-positive spore forming bacterium, which affects and grows in the gastrointestinal tract after the normal intestinal flora, has been changed by antibiotic therapy or by contact through the fecal- oral route (Kelly & Lamont, 2014). The C-Diff organism, releases two different toxins, toxins A & B. Both toxins are cytotoxic for many different cells. Toxin B is more potent then A, both toxins cause increased vascular permeability by opening tight junctions between cells, which cause hemorrhage, these toxins also stimulate the
Clostridium difficile also known as C-diff is a pathogen. According to Doctor Michelle Wright, It lives harmlessly in the gut of many people. About three in hundred healthy adults and as many as seven in ten healthy babies have a number of c difficile bacteria living in their gut (2015). Healthy people normally have a certain number of c-diff bacterium living in their gut, but this bacterium is usually kept in check by all the other harmless bacteria that lives in our gastrointestinal tract. Clostridium difficile
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, also known as C. diff, is a bacterium that causes severe symptoms, including inflammation of the colon, which can be life threatening (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). It is a very common infection that affects hundreds of thousands in the United States alone. If not caught and treated early, it can be deadly. I kills thousands of people in the United States every year (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2017). It is extremely important to learn the signs and symptoms of this infection so treatment can begin as early as possible.
Many different diseases are caused by different species in the Clostridium genus, including tetanus, botulism, and gangrene ("Clostridium."). But perhaps the worst, but least publicly recognized, is Clostridium difficile, or CDI. This disease affects 500,000 people every year in the US alone, and of those infected, around 6% died within the first month of being infected (“Healthcare-Associated Infections.”). CDI is a gastrointestinal infection. It is found in soil, water, processed meat, and human and animal feces, but once the bacteria has reached a surface, it can linger there for months. If people touch a surface with CDI with their hands, they can then accidentally ingest it, leading to a potential CDI infection. Certain people are at much
C. difficile is a Gram-positive obligate anaerobic or microaerophilic, rod-shaped bacterium. It is found in nature in water, air, human and animal feces, on most surfaces (especially in hospitals) and most prevalently in soil. C. difficile causes mild to severe diarrhea and intestinal conditions like inflammation of the colon (pseudomembranous colitis). C. difficile is the most frequent cause of infectious diarrhea in hospitals and long-term care facilities in the U.S. and many other nations. C. difficile is found in some healthy people but is not a major constituent of the microflora in colons of healthy adults but can grow to large populations in people that are treated with antibiotics, especially broad-spectrum antibiotics. This is because the antibiotics kill off the
In 2011, there was an estimated 450,000 cases of Clostridium difficile infections in the United States. Of these cases, 83,000 were first occurrence cases and 29,300 cases resulted in death. The main method of transmission of C- diff is referred to as a nosocomial infection, which are infections that are acquired while admitted to a healthcare facility, such as a hospital or skilled nursing facility. There are several risk factors that make a patient susceptible to a CDI, however, three risks factors are particularly important. These factors are that a patient underwent a recent course of antibiotics, the patient was recently hospitalized, and the that the patient is over the age of sixty- five. An elderly person is more at risk because their immune system may be less competent, and they are at a higher risk of experiencing a health
Clostridium Difficile also known as C-Diff is a bacterial infection of the gastrointestinal tract of the human body. C-Diff is a gram positive bacillus, which is spore forming. C-Diff is one of the many superbug that health care workers and hospitals battle. There is a very large push by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to educate on hand hygiene and room decontamination for patients that have tested positive for C-Diff in a health care setting. This is because the spread of the disease is through the fecal-oral route, and with spores being able to live on contaminated surfaces for a long period of time.
Clostridim difficile was first isolated in1935 by George and his colleagues from a stool found in a healthy infant by the name of Hall and O’Toole (Heinlen and Ballard, 2010). Yet in 1978, C.difficile was known to be associated as disease in human’s antibiotic-associated diarrhea (Heinlen and Ballard, 2010). It is 2 types of C. difficile: one that exists in spore form and the other in vegetative form. Depending on the type of form it exist in, allows it to grow in a certain environment. It is also a gram positive rod bacterium. When Clostridim difficile exist in a spore form, it can live in harsh conditions and in common sterilization techniques (Heinlen and Ballard, 2010). When C. difficile exist in spore form, it will be resistant to temperature
Over using antibiotics may lead towards developing harmful side effects and future antibiotic-resistant infections. An antibiotic-resistant infection is Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) which can cause life-threatening diarrhea. These infections mostly occur in people who have had both recent medical care and antibiotics. Often, C. difficile infections occur in hospitalized or recently hospitalized patients. Antibiotics do not combat infections caused by viruses such as common colds, flu, sore throats, bronchitis, and many other sinus and ear infections. Instead of consuming excessive antibiotic medications, symptom relief might be the best treatment option for viral infections.
Hecker, Michelle, Mark Obrenovich, Jennifer Cadnum, Anette Jencson, Alok Jain, Edith Ho, and Curtis Donskey. "Fecal Microbiota Transplant Cures C. Diff, Blocks Multidrug-Resistant Pathogens." Microbe Magazine 10.6 (2015): 231. Web.
The anaerobic Gram-positive bacteria species Clostridium difficile is one of the most common cause of nosocomial antibiotic-associated diarrhea. This bacterium was originally identified as normal flora living on healthy infants in 1935. This bacterium can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea, dehydration, and life-threatening inflammation of the colon. Clostridium difficile most commonly affects older adults in hospitals or long-term care centers and most often occurs after the use of antibiotic medications (1). Since there are trillions of bacteria naturally found in human interactions, when taking an antibiotic this tends to kill off the normal flora allowing C. difficile to thrive. Spores from C. difficile are transmitted via the oral fecal