Debra,

So sad for your loss. You are correct that c-diff is very common following long term antibiotic use because they kill all the friendly gut bacteria that normally keep c-diff at bay.

You see it among patients who have not been in the hospital or nursing home who have been on antibiotics for a long time and it is difficult to treat especially if the person is already frail.

Thankyou so much for all your words and prayers---I appreciate the responses.

Debra, I was discussing this with my daughter who is a nurse. She said this is normally treated with an iv of Flagyl and it sure sounded like neglect to her. If her doctor had been astute, she could have lived.

She said when she first came out of nursing school she was in a patient's room and leaned against the table and the doctor freaked out because the patient had C-diff infection. He made her shower and change her uniform. It's a contact infection. More and more cases are being discovered and less and less meds work to stop it.

There is an excellent product that has been on the market for about 10 years that is finally making it's way into hospitals, schools, etc.

It's called Steril-Aire, and I know about it because I do all their website and graphics. (www.steril-aire.com)

They have several items that can be used for disinfection, as well as indoor air quality. Some fit into your heating and air conditioning system, while others are hand held devices that use UVC light to safely irradiate the surfaces and eliminate the bacteria and viruses.

I only wish more places used it, like in Hotel rooms, restaurants, airplanes, and any place where the air is constantly circulated.

Our bacterias are getting more resistant to common drugs, which scares the heck out of me. Over prescribing of antibiotics that people don't finish only increases the problem. The bacteria just gets stronger.

K

You don't have to wear a mask but do wear gloves and gown. I guess it's from touching the germ. It's a real killer if not caught in time.

I think this overtaking of antibiotics is scary too. I've met people who are actually addicted to them out of fear of catching stuff.

Hospitals in Ohio didn't have to report cases until January of this year! They were afraid that records would become public--can you imagine?! It SHOULD be public knowledge, with the rate of deaths climbing everyday and the mutation of C-diff itself. Another thing is the lack of educating staff, patients, and caretakers of all precautions they should be taking when around C-diff. The spores live on bedrails, utensils, toilets, sinks, anything a patient normally comes in contact with...and I wonder how they clean these rooms after a patient dies from it, and do the people at home know how to clean everything correctly? It's not being addressed properly in my opinion---too much hiding under the rug is going on, instead of facing it and informing the public of the widespread occurence, especially the patients. My cousin was NOT informed of the dangers, nor was her family at home, nor myself, even though I directly took part of taking care of a bedsore, which they showed me how to do in the hospital while she had C-diff! I had no idea how serious it was until she went into that emergency room for the last time, and I went on the internet and looked it up! I couldn't believe what I was reading! She was gone the very next day! I am still devastated that she never knew how the outcome could be. That none of us knew. We are all still in shock.