8.17.2012

"People are dying needlessly," of C. Diff

Far more could be done to stop the deadly bacteria C. diff

Excerpt:


A USA TODAY investigation shows that C. diff is far more prevalent than federal reports suggest. The bacteria is linked in hospital records to more than 30,000 deaths a year in the United States— about twice federal estimates and rivaling the 32,000 killed in traffic accidents. It strikes about a half-million Americans a year.

Yet despite a decade of rising C. diff rates, health care providers and the government agencies that oversee them have been slow to adopt proven strategies to reduce the infections, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and illnesses that could have been prevented, the investigation shows.

... Hospital billing data collected by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality shows that more than 9% of C. diff-related hospitalizations end in death
Comment: USA Today article this week. C. Diff is what laid me low for about 8 months last year.

1 comment:

  1. It won't be long before the Red Cross and Memorial Blood Center will be asking for another kind of donor! :^)

    Personal question for the new donors; "Do you prefer white or whole wheat bread?"

    ReplyDelete

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