Has anyone had any experience with this infection? My cousin just died from it on Monday.

Hi, Debra: I am so sorry for the demise of your cousin and will pray for the repose of his/her soul. I must admit it is the first time I have heard of c-diff infection. Would you be able to tell us anything about it? Its causes and symptoms, incubation period and treatment?

Here's some info:

http://www.aboutibs.org/Publications/CDifficile.html

Debra, I'm so sorry for your loss. I had never heard of this either, but it's good to be aware of it. There is so much out there that we just haven't heard of!

Kathy

I'm very familiar with it. My Daddy had it right before he died. Three days after the funeral, my Mother was diagnosed with it and hospitalized. She almost died. Her immune system was down from the breast cancer, so she had contacted it from Daddy. It's like a staff infection. Very dangerous. Nursing homes and VA homes are notoirious for having cases of it break out. They usually quarentine everyone around the person who has it. In Daddy's case, it was the VA home. In the two years he was there, they were in "lock down" on more than two occassions with a breakout of CDef Colitis. If this disease is not treated promptly, you can die from it. It's nothing to fool around with.

Thanks for that link, Kathy. It surely helps to be informed.

A lot, probably most (I don't know the statistics on this)nursing home cases began in the hospital. Most of our residents/patients come from the hospital to the nursing home and already have it. Other times, a resident goes into the hospital for a few days to a week or whatever and contracts it in the hospital and has it upon re-admission. Hospitals have a lot of nasty germs. I don't even like visiting in one.

Louisa

Thanks for the responses and prayers. Originally, my cousin broke her hip. She had the symptoms, but was not diagnosed with c-diff, was sent to a rehab/nursing home for a month, came home, within 2 days was readmitted to hospital--diagnosed with c-diff, was being treated, sent home again. I was part of her aftercare for a bedsore, as homecare would only come once a day, and she needed 2 changes a day.

continued---did this for 4 weeks. Last week, she again developed diarrhea for 3 days straight, had called doctor. Was told to take immodium for it on thursday. Helped a little on Friday. Saturday, she lost all color, was weak, wasn't feeling well. Made her go Sunday morning took her to emergency room, doctor was not available. Determined through stool test(bloody) that c-diff was present. Put in intensive care, couldn't get urine sample, despite being given intravenous fluids--she bloated up, was very uncomfortable..by noon on Monday, she stopped breathing, put her on ventilator, discovered kidneys had shut down. Then her heart stopped for 15 min, got her back briefly, at 4:05pm she was gone.

I am heartbroken--it happened so fast. This is caused by taking antibiotics and can be spread by not following protocol at hospitals/nursing homes, or other health care facilities. Patient should have private room, all staff should wear mask, gown, gloves when handling patient. I urge everyone who has loved ones or for your own peace of mind to inquire at all faclities of health care if c-diff is present or has been, as these spores can live for two years on surfaces and dirt, as well as on surfaces in home bathrooms, utensils, and fixtures. Unfortunately, we were not informed of any of this...I am now finding out all this from internet. All I did was type in c-diff in search and pages and pages came up--please be informed--it is contageous, it can be deadly. I had to find this out the hard way...her funeral is tomorrow. Anti-diarrhea medicine can make it worse, as in my cousin's case. Someone needs to be held accountable. I will not let her be just another case. She would want me to make sure others in that hospital know what happened---not all hospitals report it. I hope her death will make a difference for others who are going through this and don't know it yet, or how serious it really is.

Such a useless and needless death. I get so angry and yes, scared when hearing this kind of a story. Are we safe anywhere in this world, I think not!!! Debra, I'll pray for her soul.