Date:
05/28/2008 09:05 AM Gut
superbug causing more illnesses, deaths
By MIKE STOBBE
AP Medical Writer
ATLANTA (AP) _ The number of people hospitalized
with a dangerous intestinal superbug has been growing by more
than 10,000 cases a year, according to a new study.
The germ, resistant to some antibiotics, has
become a regular menace in hospitals and nursing homes. The
study found it played a role in nearly 300,000 hospitalizations
in 2005, more than double the number in 2000.
The infection, Clostridium difficile, is found
in the colon and can cause diarrhea and a more serious intestinal
condition known as colitis. It is spread by spores in feces.
But the spores are difficult to kill with most conventional
household cleaners or antibacterial soap.
C-diff, as it's known, has grown resistant
to certain antibiotics that work against other colon bacteria.
The result: When patients take those antibiotics, competing
bacteria die off and C-diff explodes.
This virulent strain of C-diff was rarely
seen before 2000.
"The nature of this infection is changing.
It's more severe," said Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention expert who was not part
of the study.
There are other factors that play into the
rise of C-diff cases as well, including a larger of number
of patients who are older and sicker. "And there may
be some overuse and inappropriate use of antibiotics,"
said Dr. Marya Zilberberg, a University of Massachusetts researcher
and lead author of the study.
The Zilberberg study was based on a sample
of more than 36 million annual discharges from non-governmental
U.S. hospitals. That data was used to generate the study's
national estimates.
The research is being published in the June
issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, a CDC publication.
Using other scientists' estimates, the study
concluded that 2.3 percent of the cases in 2004 were fatal
— about 5,500 deaths. That was nearly double the percentage
of C-diff-related cases that ended in death in 2000.
Many of the people who died had other health
problems. The study did not try to determine if Clostridium
difficile was the main cause of death in each case, Zilberberg
said.
But earlier research concluded the infection
is the underlying cause of thousands of deaths annually, and
the problem is getting worse.
C-diff has become an acute health concern
in Canada, where it was blamed for 260 deaths at seven Ontario
hospitals recently, and 2,000 deaths in Quebec since 2002.
The Association for Professionals in Infection
Control and Epidemiology is currently working with U.S. hospitals
to study prevalence of the infection and what infection control
measures seem to work best.
"This is not a time for alarm, but more
a time for educating health professionals to understand this
particular pathogen," said Kathy Warye, chief executive
of the Washington, D.C.-based association.
___
On the Net:
The CDC publication: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/index.htm
