abstract: Study: Vast Majority of C difficile Infections Occur in Medical Settings, April 4, 2012, Voelker 307 (13): 1356 — JAMA

Study: Vast Majority of C difficile Infections Occur in Medical Settings, April 4, 2012

Most Clostridium difficile infections, often assumed to be community acquired, actually occur in medical settings, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

In fact, 94% of the potentially fatal infections are in people who recently received care in facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes, physicians' offices, and outpatient surgical centers. To stem the rising tide of C difficile infections, CDC officials say hospitals and other health care settings need greater adherence to infection control practices and improved communication to notify each other whenever they transfer an infected patient. 

“These infections are now a patient safety concern everywhere medical care is given,” said Clifford McDonald, MD, a CDC medical epidemiologist and lead author of the study in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (http://tinyurl.com/7dh83hh). “About 25% of C difficile infections first show symptoms among patients in hospitals; 75% first show symptoms among patients in nursing …"

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