Question

Case Study

You are on a clinical rotation at a local hospital and are shadowing Nurses and hanging out at the nursing station. One of the nurses who had just came out of the restroom from his third or forth trip to the restroom collapsed at his desk. He has been looking very pale and has been losing weight. You run to get the attending physician. The physician took one look and said something that sounded like "see dif" to the nursing instructor. She said he has been taking antibiotics for a nasty sinus infection. You are asked to prepare a written report on his condition, but are afraid to ask what it is. Where do you look first? What is it? How is it spread? Why is it hard to kill? Who is most affected by it?

Answer 1

The physician is talking about C. diff i.e. Clostrodium difficile.

Clostrodium difficile is present in air, soil, faeces. It is most commonly found in hospitals environment. The route of infection is feco oral route.

Clostridium difficile bacterium infection cause diarrhea, nausea, vomitting, abdominal pain and fever. The infection aggrevates sometimes due to use of antibiotics as antibiotics disturb the natural balance of intestine flora.

The treatment includes stoping the use antibiotics causing it. Severe cases require drugs like vancomysin, fidaxomycin, metronidazole.

The infection is hard to treat due to its high rate of recurrence.

The elderly people staying in hospitals and healthcare workers are at a greater risk to acquire infection.