Also called: Also called: C. diff. infections, Clostridium enterocolitis, pseudomembranous colitis
Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is a bacterium that causes diarrhea and more serious intestinal conditions such as colitis. Symptoms include
- Watery diarrhea (at least three bowel movements per day for two or more days)
- Fever
- Loss of appetite
- Nausea
- Abdominal pain or tenderness
People in good health usually don’t get C. difficile disease. You might get the disease if you have an illness that requires prolonged use of antibiotics. Increasingly, the disease can also be spread in the hospital. The elderly are also at risk. Treatment is with antibiotics.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- General Information about Clostridium difficile Infections(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/id_CdiffFAQ_general.html
- C. difficile (Clostridium difficile)(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) - http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/c-difficile/DS00736/METHOD=print&DSECTION=all
- Clostridium difficile-Induced Colitis(Merck & Co., Inc.) - http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec09/ch127/ch127a.html
- Clostridium difficile Toxin(American Association for Clinical Chemistry) - http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/cdiff/glance.html
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Introduction to Probiotics
(National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine) - http://nccam.nih.gov/health/probiotics/index.htm
- Antibiotic-Associated Diarrhea(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) - http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/antibiotic-associated-diarrhea/DS00454/DSECTION=all&METHOD=print
- Information about a New Strain of Clostridium difficile(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/id_CdiffFAQ_newstrain.html
- Pseudomembranous colitis(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) - http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/pseudomembranous-colitis/DS00797/DSECTION=all&METHOD=print
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Clostridium difficile(National Institutes of Health) - http://clinicaltrials.gov/search/open/condition=%22Clostridium+difficile%22
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous(National Institutes of Health) - http://clinicaltrials.gov/search/open/condition=%22Enterocolitis,+Pseudomembranous%22
References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
- Article: Clostridium difficile in adult patients with nosocomial diarrhea in a... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=18689617&tool=MedlinePlus
- Article: Proceedings from the 2nd International Clostridium difficile Symposium, Maribor, Slovenia,... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=18655255&tool=MedlinePlus
- Article: Collateral damage. The rise of resistant C. difficile. - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=18635789&tool=MedlinePlus
- Clostridium Difficile Infections -- see more articles - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=(Clostridium+difficile[majr]+AND+Enterocolitis,Pseudomembranous[majr])+AND+humans[mh]+AND+english[la]+NOT+(letter[pt]+OR+editorial[pt]+OR+case+reports[pt])&doptcmdl=summary&cmd_current=Limits&pmfilter_EDatLimit=last+1+Year&tool=MedlinePlus
- clostridium difficile - http://vsearch.nlm.nih.gov/vivisimo/cgi-bin/query-meta?v:project=medlineplus&binning-state=group%3d%3dMedical%20Encyclopedia&query=clostridium+difficile
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - http://www.cdc.gov/
Also available in Spanish http://www.cdc.gov/spanish/
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National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases - http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/
- Potentially Deadly Infection Doubles among Hospital Patients Over Last 5 Years(Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) - http://www.ahrq.gov/news/nn/nn042308.htm
- Digestive System - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/digestivesystem.html