Friday, December 02, 2005

 

The Latest Spreading Germ: "It's a Bad Bug," Says One Researcher

One more reason not to have surgery if you can possibly avoid it: a bacterium known as Clostridium difficile. According to the Washington Post, a dangerous strain of the diahrrea-causing germ is now widepsread in the U.S. and has been linked to serious (even deadly) outbreaks. Once found almost entirely in hospital patients, the germ has been identified in people who haven't visited or worked in a hospital, "raising alarm that the infection may be emerging more widely and posing a broader public health threat." That's from researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

C. difficile has been linked to hospital patients who've been taking antibiotics for other reasons (antibiotics often kill the "good" germs that keep colon problems and things like diarrhea at bay). But CDC officials say C. difficile-related outbreaks have occured througout the world and is spreading to non-hospital populations as well. Said one reseracher: "It's a bad bug."

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