New Superbug on the Rise in Hospitals

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New Superbug on the Rise in Hospitals

(http://www.aolhealth.com/categories/news/)

As one _superbug_ (http://www.aolhealth.com/2009/11/16/superbugs/) seems

to be fading as a threat in hospitals, another is on the rise, a new study

suggests.

A dangerous, drug-resistant staph infection called _MRSA_

(http://www.aolhealth.com/health-concern/methicillin-resistant-staphylococcus-au\

reus-mrsa)

is often seen as the biggest germ threat to patients in hospitals and other

health care facilities. But infections from _Clostridium difficile_

(http://www.aolhealth.com/health-concern/clostridium-difficile-colitis) - known

as C-diff - are surpassing MRSA infections, the study of 28 hospitals in the

Southeast found.

" I think MRSA is almost a household name. Everybody thinks of MRSA as a

serious threat, " said Dr. Becky , an infectious diseases specialist at

_Duke University Medical Center_ (http://www.dukehealth.org/) . She

presented the research Saturday in Atlanta, at a medical conference on

infection in

health care facilities.

" But C. difficile deserves more attention, " she added.

MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, are bacteria that

can't be treated with common _antibiotics_

(http://www.aolhealth.com/conditions/antibiotics) . They are often harmless as

they ride on the skin, but

become deadly once they get in the bloodstream. They enter through wounds,

intravenous lines and other paths.

C-diff, also resistant to some antibiotics, is found in the colon and can

cause _diarrhea_ (http://www.aolhealth.com/symptom-checker/diarrhea) and a

more serious intestinal condition known as _colitis_

(http://www.aolhealth.com/conditions/colitis-ulcerative) . It is spread by

spores in feces. The

spores are difficult to kill with most conventional household cleaners or

alcohol-based hand sanitizers, so some of the disinfection measures against

MRSA don't work on C-diff.

Deaths from C-diff traditionally have been rare, but a more dangerous form

has emerged in the last ten years. Still, MRSA is generally considered a

more lethal threat, causing an estimated 18,000 U.S. deaths annually.

The new study looked at infection rates from community hospitals in

Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia in 2008 and 2009. It found

the rate of hospital-acquired C-diff infections was 25 percent higher than

MRSA infections.

Here are the numbers: The hospitals counted 847 infections of

hospital-acquired C-diff, and 680 cases of MRSA.

also reported that C-diff was increasing at the hospitals since

2007, while MRSA has been declining since 2005.

Last year, a government report noted a decline in MRSA infections in a

study of 600 hospital intensive-care units. MRSA bloodstream infections

connected with intravenous tubes fell almost 50 percent from 1997 to 2007,

according to data reported to the _Centers for Disease Control and Prevention_

(http://www.cdc.gov/) .

C-diff has seemed to be increasing in recent years, but the trend is not

uniform - some hospitals report falling rates. The prevalence of different

infections can vary in different parts of the country, said Dr. L. Clifford

Mc, a CDC expert who was not part of the Duke study.

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