Wash your hands or leave yourself vulnerable to the newest superbug

Serious Business

Its 15 minutes of fame might be up, but MRSA continues to terrorize. In fact, it’s now killing more than 20,000 a year in the U.S.

But there’s another more common bacterium infection no one is talking about that’s quietly blowing up right behind it.

And what’s really frightening is that both of these superbugs are thriving in hospitals.

If you go to a hospital for treatment or to visit someone, take this warning very seriously: Wash your hands.

If you even THINK the word “hospital,” wash your hands.

Big and bad

The “new” bug is not new at all. In fact, this bacterium is living in your system right now. But for most of us, most of the time, it’s under control, held in check by good bacteria.

It’s called Clostridium difficile (abbreviated as “C. diff”) and when it finds an opening, it can trigger digestive inflammation and diarrhea so severe that some cases result in death.

Here’s where it gets really scary: One of the things that opens the way for a C. diff infection is exactly what should control it: antibiotic therapy. When a potent antibiotic is used to control an infection, both good and bad bacteria are killed off. But C. diff is a survivor. If a sufficient amount remains after a round of antibiotic treatment, the good bacteria are not there to keep it in check.

This is one of the reasons C. diff infection shows up in hospitals so frequently. Another reason (and I hope you’re not eating right now): C. diff is spread via feces spores that can live for weeks on end. Touch the wrong doorknob, then scratch your upper lip and…well, I think you know where I’m going with this..

So, how bad is it?

New research from Duke University Medical Center collected two years of bacterial infection data from nearly 30 hospitals. The rate of C. diff infection was a full 25 percent higher than MRSA infection.

Duke researcher Becky Miller, M.D., told Ivanhoe Newswire that MRSA is regarded as the “big, bad superbug.” And she added, “Based on our data, we can see that this thinking, along with prevention methods, will need to change.”

Maybe I can help with that, Dr. Miller.

First, patients need to be aware that regular use of these three very popular types of drugs have been shown to increase C. diff infection risk:

• Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
• H2 receptor antagonists (such as Zantac and Pepcid) to treat heartburn
• Proton pump inhibitor drugs (such as Prevacid and Prilosec) to treat heartburn

The PPI drugs in particular sharply increase risk.

Secondly, doctors, patients, and caregivers all need to be aware that people in their 60s and 70s are at greatest risk of developing C. diff infection during a hospital stay.

And finally, antibiotic therapy wipes out good bacteria along with the bad. But the good can be easily restored with a probiotic supplement or probiotic-rich food.

For instance, many yogurt products contain a couple of strains of good bacteria, but you’d need to eat multiple servings to get the assistance your gut needs when it’s under duress with antibiotic treatment.

NorthStar Nutritionals makes an excellent supplement called Healthy Gut that contains six different strains of good bacteria and more than 20 billion active cultures in every dose. That’s like sending in a massive cavalry to rescue the day!

You can find out more about Healthy Gut at this link.

And one more thing: Wash your hands! Of all the ways to protect your health, this is by far the easiest and least expensive.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson

Source:
“Superbug On the Rise” Ivanhoe Newswire, 3/23/10, ivanhoe.com