What Causes A Clostridium Difficile Infection?

So what causes a clostridium difficile infection? Cdiff exists quite naturally in the environment. It is to be found in the water, air and human and animal faeces. C diff is also carried in a small number of people's large intestine without being injurious to their health. A vast number of bacteria dwell in the human intestines and this has the effect of keeping the c diff under control.

Ironically,  clostridium difficile infection is caused by one the greatest advances in medicine, antibiotics. Antibiotics have saved millions of lives over the decades as they fight infection.

However, they seem to have the opposite effect with c diff. This is because while the antibiotics can wipe out bacteria in the intestines, they do not do any damage to the c diff. In fact, with the bacteria that keeps the c diff in check eliminated, this particular bacterium grows. To make matters worse the c diff then creates toxins.

These toxins are dangerous as they cause severe diarrhoea, abdominal pains, fever and colitis. What is more, they also produce spores which can live outside the body. These are also highly contagious as they can breathed through the mouth and swallowed, leading to the clostridium difficile infection being very contagious.

Clostridium difficile infection is particularly virulent in hospitals. People becoming hospitalised because of another disease can easily catch c diff as in-patients. This is because of the number of people in close proximity to one another whose immune systems are weak because of illness.

The c diff can also be spread by others, such as nursing staff and visitors. To counter the infection hygiene and cleanliness have to be strictly enforced. Hands must be washed regularly, and antiseptic gel also used. Ordinary cleaning of wards may not be enough to kill the c diff, so steam cleaning may have to implemented.

As for the patient themselves, the antibiotics which caused the clostridium difficile infection have to be discontinued. If that fails to stop the infection other antibiotics, that can can kill c diff are proscribed. In the most severe cases the patient may require a colostomy.