C. diff. is relatively contagious and expensive to treat. I’m 100% sure that this was the main cause of my grandmother’s death 2 years ago. We suspect she contracted it at the local hospital. She never had any problems while in her nursing home, but she had “the good insurance”, and the physicians and specialists kept sending her to the hospital to “run tests.” Hand sanitizers do not kill this bug on your hands. The nursing home had her in an isolation unit once she caught it. It was sad to see her go downhill so quickly. Her death certificate said she died of heart disease. She had a pacemaker, but never had any other cardiac surgery.
C Diff is often resident to the patient and overgrowth is triggered when antibiotics kill off other resident bacteria which keep it in check. Was it caught in the hospital or triggered by antibiotics which were necessary to treat the cause of hospitalization?
this is so sad to hear.
but i assume easy to take care of than we’d like to admit. maybe we should stop paying as much to the highest paid in the healthcare system and throw a little more money at the ones who clean the facilities.
Maybe instead of non english speaking third world country immigrants we could get americans who are proud of cleanliness and can make a living wage doing it.