ATLANTA - A new U.S. study says the number of people hospitalized with a dangerous intestinal superbug commonly called C. difficile is growing by more than 10,000 cases a year.
C. difficile, or Clostridium difficile, is found in the colon and can cause diarrhea and a more serious intestinal condition known as colitis. The antibiotic-resistant germ has become a regular menace in hospitals and nursing homes.
The new study found it played a role in nearly 300,000 hospitalizations in the United States in 2005, more than double the number in 2000.
C. difficile has also become an acute health concern in Canada, where it was blamed for 260 deaths at seven Ontario hospitals recently, and for 2,000 deaths in Quebec since 2002.
Dr. Marya Zilberberg, a University of Massachusetts researcher and lead author of the study, says the overuse and sometimes inappropriate use of antibiotics is one of several factors behind the increase.
There are other factors that play into the rise of C. difficile cases as well, including a larger of number of patients who are older and sicker.
C. difficile is resistant to certain antibiotics that work against other colon bacteria. The result: When patients take those antibiotics, competing bacteria die off and C. difficile explodes.
The Zilberberg study was based on a sample of more than 36 million annual discharges from non-governmental U.S. hospitals. That data was used to generate the study's national estimates.
The research is being published in the June issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, a CDC publication.
The virulent strain of C. difficile was rarely seen before 2000.
"The nature of this infection is changing. It's more severe,'' said Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expert who was not part of the study.
Using other scientists' estimates, the study concluded that 2.3 per cent of the cases in 2004 were fatal -- about 5,500 deaths. That was nearly double the percentage of C. difficile-related cases that ended in death in 2000.
Many of the people who died had other health problems. The study did not try to determine if Clostridium difficile was the main cause of death in each case, Zilberberg said.
But earlier research concluded the infection is the underlying cause of thousands of deaths annually, and the problem is getting worse.
The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology is currently working with U.S. hospitals to study prevalence of the infection and what infection control measures seem to work best.
"This is not a time for alarm, but more a time for educating health professionals to understand this particular pathogen,'' said Kathy Warye, chief executive of the Washington, D.C.,-based association.
