Clostridium difficile
See the following -
As If the Killer Got Away
In a more than yearlong investigation, Reuters used court records, news reports, patient advocacy organizations and Web searches to identify individuals who had died of antibiotic-resistant infections and then contacted relatives to obtain death certificates and medical records. In some cases, the death certificate did not mention the lethal infection. In many others, it did, but the death occurred in a state that doesn’t track the infections. Even in states that do track some superbug deaths, none are counted nationally, in real time, in any unified surveillance system...
- Login to post comments
Deconstructing the CDC’s ‘Snapshot’ Estimates
In 2013, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released estimates of how many people in the country die every year from antibiotic resistant infections: 23,000. The agency estimates that an additional 15,000 die annually from Clostridium difficile, an infection linked to long-term antibiotic use. The estimates, the agency said at the time, provided the “first snapshot of the burden and threats posed by antibiotic-resistant germs having the most impact on human health”...
- Login to post comments
How Hospitals, Nursing Homes Keep Lethal ‘Superbug’ Outbreaks Secret
The outbreak started in January 2014. That’s when a resident of the Casa Maria nursing home here was diagnosed with Clostridium difficile, a highly contagious and potentially deadly “superbug” that plagues hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities. By the end of February, six more Casa Maria residents were suffering from the infection, characterized by fever, abdominal cramps and violent diarrhea...
- Login to post comments
The Grim Propect of Antibiotic Resistance
When people hear about antibiotic resistance creating “superbugs”, they tend to think of new diseases and pandemics spreading out of control. The real threat is less flamboyant, but still serious: existing problems getting worse, sometimes dramatically. Infections acquired in hospital are a prime example. They are already a problem, but with more antibiotic resistance they could become a much worse one. Elective surgery, such as hip replacements, now routine, would come to carry what might be seen as unacceptable risk. So might Caesarean sections. The risks of procedures which suppress the immune system, such as organ transplants and cancer chemotherapies, would increase...
- Login to post comments
‘Superbug’ Scourge Spreads as U.S. Fails to Track Rising Human Toll
Fifteen years after the U.S. declared drug-resistant infections to be a grave threat, the crisis is only worsening, a Reuters investigation finds, as government agencies remain unwilling or unable to impose reporting requirements on a healthcare industry that often hides the problem...
- Login to post comments