Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comNatural defense mechanism may fight C. difficile
Seeded on Sun Aug 21, 2011 9:18 PM EDT (msnbc.com)
— Filed under: health
- msnbc.com sites & shows:
- TODAY
- Rock Center
- Nightly News
- Meet the Press
- Dateline
- Morning Joe
- Hardball
- Ed
- Maddow
- Last Word
- msnbc tv
Leave a Comment:
Great news, considering the prevalance of this infection. Major contributing causes? Not only overuse of antibiotics, but also reliance on waterless hand cleaners. Why waterless hand cleaners? They don't kill C.Diff, allowing for increased transfer of the bacteria on hands. Not only in hospitals, but in the community-think grocery cart handles, stair railings....
non-compliance while taking antibiotics is another HUGE issue, I would argue bigger than overuse of antibiotics in general, at least in the hospital setting (obv. much different for say, meat packing industry).
Those waterless cleaners are a joke and the biggest scam brought on the American people. Soap, all soap, by its very nature is antibiotic. If you need something stronger, use dilute IPA (basically what hand sanitize is). But that still leaves spores. Go for 10% bleach if you really, truly, are a germaphobe.
OK, very nice, but from what I read, this does nothing to get rid of the infection, just neutralizes the poisons. So you keep taking this stuff forever instead of attacking the root cause? Sounds like it would be helpful for extremely ill people, but you still need to strike the cause.
Well here's the issue...these bugs are largely antibiotic resistant, and we of course have other beneficial bugs in our gut...so a broad spectrum antibiotic or bacteriocidal drug clearly won't work. Bacteriostatics on the other hand, yes, leave the bug alive, but prevent it from causing harm. Then our immune system will clean up the rest. So you are right the drug itself is not designed to "get rid of the infection" but there are many more mechanisms in play here!
My mom had 3 bouts of c-diff after being in the hospital. Dr.s just said to eat yogurt. after the 3rd bout and my moms refusal to return to the hospital I bought her some probiotics at the local vitamin store. That was over 2 years ago and she hasn't had another attack.
My mom acquired c-diff while in the hospital. Doctor remedy, eat yogurt. After her 3rd bout of c-diff in less than 2 weeks and after eating tubs of yogurt she refused to go to the hospital again. I then went to the local vitamin store and bought her some probiotics, which she continues to take each day and has not had another bout of c-diff. That was over 2 years ago.
We must be extremely vigliant when taking medications; antibiotics and antifungals. I took Amoxicillin last Spring, became extremely ill with CDIF. Worse, was the fact that the doctor did not immediately test me, and I had a rectal surgical procedure while sick. Now, I am left with nerve pain. Do NOT take this lightly!
Broad spectrum antibiotics destroy the good as well as bad bacteria in the body. If you truly must be on an antibiotic (confirmed by a lab test for a bacterial infection), take a probiotic two hours after each dose. That allows the antibiotic to work but prevents the over kill of the good flora in the intestine. Since we are exposed to antibiotics in our food supply, I take Acidophilis every day.