Remember when you were younger and people would tell you life would be easy peasy lemon squeezy, but it turns out it’s just difficult difficult lemon difficult? There are some things in life that are just agonizingly difficult such as developing a Clostridium difficile infection.
The name itself lets you know that Clostridium difficile, or C. difficile, is not easy to deal with. The only thing you won’t have difficulty with is using the bathroom. According to the CDC, diarrhea, fever and loss of appetite are a few of the symptoms of C. difficile. It is also reported that C. difficile is a side effect of taking antibiotics. The antibiotic suppresses the normal bacteria that you have in your colon which in turn allows C. difficile bacteria to thrive and cause severe damage. Kind of ironic, is it not? You take antibiotics to cure yourself of one infection and along comes yet another, sometimes fatal, infection.
Don’t be fooled by the pretty Gram-positive rod of C. difficile you see pictured to the left. The NIH reports that almost half a million Americans are infected with C. difficile each year. Of those infected, roughly 29,000 succumb to the infection. This is kind of scary if you think about it because people use antibiotics everyday for a number of varying reasons. Those who self-prescribe by taking expired antibiotics are even more at risk of developing a C. difficile infection because of antibiotic misuse. It is not just your average person diagnosing him/herself and taking an antibiotic that causes problems. It is also qualified medical professionals who are prescribing either unnecessary or incorrect antibiotics.
Since C. difficile infections are one of the most prevalent infectious diseases that occur in the United States, here are some final thoughts that will hopefully make a lasting impression. Make sure to wash your hands regularly considering C. difficile can be spread through human contact quite easily. It is also important to never misuse antibiotics and only take them when needed.
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