The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that in 2011 there were nearly half a million cases of infection with Clostridium difficile, a severe gastrointestinal infection that can be deadly. Often called C. Diff, the infection directly killed about 15,000 people, with a total of 29,000 people having died within a month of diagnosis.
This makes C. diff an important cause of infectious death in the United States. More than 80% of the deaths were in people over age 65.
C. diff infections often occur in hospitals and nursing homes. It is linked with the use of antibiotics because antibiotics can kill the beneficial organisms in the intestines and allow C. diff to take over. The spread of C. diff is thought to be due to unnecessary antibiotic use and to poor infection control in healthcare settings. C. diff is not killed on surfaces by common disinfectants, but can be killed by bleach wipes or a 10% bleach solution. Alcohol-based hand disinfectants do not kill C. diff.
The infection costs up to $4.8 billion each year in excess health care costs for acute care facilities alone, according to the CDC.
Only about 150,000 cases of C. diff infection are not related to a stay in a healthcare facility. However, the CDC noted that 82% of these cases are in people who may have been exposed at settings like a doctor's or dentist's office in the 12 weeks before their diagnosis.
To help reduce the incidence of C. diff infections, there are now national reduction targets for C. diff. All hospitals that participate in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' inpatients quality reporting program are reporting information on D. diff infections to the CDC. Collecting this information will help monitor the progress of programs against C. diff.
A CDC study found that reducing the use of antibiotics linked to C. diff infections by 30% can reduce C. diff infections by more than 25%.
The main symptoms of a C. diff infection are severe diarrhea and abdominal pain. Some cases need to be treated with antibiotics that target C. diff, but the infection recurs in about 20% of cases.