Search below for the latest C-diff news stories. Get the latest information on how North Texans are fighting to reduce C-diff infections in our community.
February 26, 2015
DALLAS — It may seem a little extreme to hold off on hugging your little girl until she promises she washed her hands with soap, but that might just be what it takes to avoid Clostridium difficile, or “C. diff.” And if you’re like us, you probably do want to avoid it.
“C. diff is a bacteria that causes infections in your intestines,” explained Patti Taylor from the DFW Hospital Council Foundation. She’s in charge of a campaign to fight C. diff in the Metroplex and beyond. “Main symptoms are diarrhea, nausea, loss of appetite, and fever.”
Yuck! And get this, the CDC just released a study that found way more cases than they expected. Nearly half a million people get C. Diff infections every year in the U.S. alone, and 29,000-plus die of it.
Jeez, and we thought Ebola was bad.
“One in five people are a carrier and don’t even know it,” Taylor said. “So I could be touching a surface, you can touch that surface, you can touch your mouth then, and you can be infected with C. diff.”
So the big question is — how do we avoid this nasty stuff?
Taylor said the answer is simple. “After you use the restroom you need to wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. You’re not actually killing the spores. What you’re doing is washing them down the drain.”
And that’s something waterless hand sanitizers just don’t do. So, be safe and wash your hands with soap!