[JSteff]

My wife is an RN (very experienced) and she talked of Clostridium Difficile (they call it C-Diff) for years. She said it takes patients of all ages.

In younger, stronger, patients if it does not kill them it makes their recovery much longer and the related complications can affect them for years after-wards.

From her descriptions it is far messier than the article conveyed. She has always said that as a nurse, a hospital borne infection was her worst fear when she had her surgeries (Thyroid cancer related).

Definitely nothing to joke about.

[corkoman]

C-diff is also notable for being responsible for many of the battlefield amputations in the Civil War. It causes gas-gangrene, expanding tissues with gas generated as the bacterium colonizes tissues. Nasty.

Hard to understand how C-diff persists in surgical units.

[Stoat]

Agreed on all counts....thanks very much for posting.