Making a diff against C diff

Even as the public is becoming more aware of the risks of hospital-acquired infections, and health providers are working to improve sanitary practices to prevent disease transmission, there is still a worrying trend: Infections with C. difficile (Clostridium difficile) are actually on the rise. C. difficile is a bacterial infection that can cause severe diarrhea and even death. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that, over the past 10 years, the number of Americans who have been hospitalized for C. difficile infections has tripled. Even worse, over this same time period, the number of people dying from the infection has quadrupled. Currently, about 14,000 Americans die every year from C. difficile infection.

Although it had been thought that most C. difficile infections are contracted in the hospital setting, in fact about half of those who harbor C. difficile were already infected before they arrived at the hospital. Patients who are taking antibiotics long-term or in combination are particularly susceptible to this infection — the antibiotics kill off beneficial bacteria, which allows the C. difficile to proliferate.

Yet hospitals are still a key location to target in reducing the toll of C. difficile. Health care providers, whether they work in a hospital, a nursing home, or a clinic, need to work to end the transmission of C. difficile, says the CDC. Important measures include reducing the overprescription of antibiotics, isolating patients who have been diagnosed with C. difficile infection, sterilizing all surfaces a patient comes into contact with, and being sure that health workers wear gloves and gowns and wash their hands regularly. “Unfortunately,” adds ACSH's Dr. Josh Bloom, “it will take a new family of antibiotics to further get a handle on C. difficile infections and deaths, but the amount of ongoing research in this area is woefully inadequate.”

RID (the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths), founded and led by Dr. Betsy McCaughey, an ACSH trustee, works to encourage modifications in health care settings and in policy that help to reduce hospital-acquired infections, such as C. difficile.

Is Your High-Tech Life Making You Sick?

smart phone, cell phone, iphone, texting, phone, phone call smartphones The situation: Just as we were chatting on our iPhones about our Memorial Day weekends, the news broke: The World Health Organization had just classified radio frequency waves — the radiation we know most from cell phones — as "possibly carcinogenic." No new studies were hatched, just a review of existing relevant research, which led to a conclusion of "limited evidence" for certain brain tumors from cell phones — meaning there "could be some risk" and we should "keep a close watch. "Oh, and, by the way, coffee and gas exhausts are also WHO-classified as "possibly carcinogenic." To many of us, this was infuriating and confusing in an orange-terrorist-alert kind of way. But alas, the ongoing wishy-washiness stems from the existing studies' being too small, too outdated, and too ill-designed to be definitive, explains Michael Wyde, Ph.D., of the National Toxicology Program — like the one based on human recall, reporting a 40 percent increased risk among those who used their mobiles 30 minutes a day over 10 years. In hopes of clearing up the confusion, Wyde's team has launched a comprehensive study intermittently exposing rodents to electromagnetic radiation levels mimicking human cell-phone use; final results are slated for 2015. The strategy: Minimize exposure. Smartphones often emit more radiation than simpler varieties, so if you're shopping for a new one, check out Environmental Working Group's cell phone radiation database, consider Pong's cell case, which reduces exposure to radiation by 60 percent, go hands-free by using a headset or speaker, and use landlines for long conversations. iTunes Alert

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