The looming disaster of antibiotic resistance doesn’t have to hit your home if you take these precautions

Wolf at the door

You’ve heard the tragic stories. An infection in the hospital, a young girl zip-lining, a boy in the city playing basketball — and BAM! MRSA or another superbug take hold and the results are horrifying…even deadly.

Never fear…the CDC just compiled a bombshell report about antibiotic resistance. They’ve got some pie-in-the-sky plans about how to fix this dangerous situation.

I’m sure it will be full of committees and drafts and “what ifs” — all the while, you and your family are still at risk from the superbugs their previous committees and drafts helped create.

So rather than just sit and wait for their useless steering committee report — or for a superbug attack, you can take a few easy steps to ensure you and your loved ones never fall victim to this looming disaster.

Three steps to save lives

The CDC report rates C. diff as one of the “urgent” cases of superbugs. That might be the only thing they got right.

This nasty bug causes diarrhea, colitis, and other intestinal problems, sometimes severe enough to require surgery. CDC eggheads estimate that C. diff is responsible for a minimum of 14,000 deaths every year.

But, from what I can tell, they have no idea what to do about it.

The good news is that a huge portion of those deaths can be prevented. Three simple steps can stop C. diff infection before it starts.

Step One: Wash your hands. It sounds too simple to be true, but it works. C. diff spores can live for days on all types of surfaces. So after a visit to a hospital or nursing home, wash your hands thoroughly.

Step Two: Avoid or severely limit these three types of commonly used drugs that increase C. diff infection risk (I’m sure this won’t show up in the CDC reports):

* 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

Step Three: Use a probiotic supplement with any antibiotic.

Antibiotics kill both good and bad bacteria. And low levels of good bacteria provide a perfect environment for C. diff to thrive — and invade. This is where a probiotic can make all the difference. And I’m not talking about Jamie Lee’s yogurt. I mean a good probiotic with live cultures in supplement form.

Dr. Spreen recommends starting probiotics at the beginning of every antibiotic treatment.

He added that he would continue probiotic use for a full week after the antibiotic is finished. This isn’t overkill — it’s insurance.

Dr. Spreen describes C. diff as “preventable.” But only if you get ahead of the curve and block this nasty bug at every turn.

There you go…easy, real-life ways to beat C. diff — and all before the CDC even got its pencils sharpened.

Sources:
“Landmark CDC Report Details Threat of ‘Postantibiotic Era'” Lara C. Pullen, PhD, Medscape Medical News, 9/16/13, medscape.com