What causes Recurrent C diff?

What are the risk factors for recurrent C. difficile? Risk factors for recurrence of C. difficile include older age (older than 65 years), female sex, Caucasian ethnicity, ongoing antibiotic use, concurrent proton pump inhibitor use, and more severe initial disease.

What is recurrent C difficile infection?

Recurrence of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is very common leading to significant morbidity and increased healthcare costs. It is defined as a relapse of CDI symptoms within 2 – 8 weeks of successful treatment of the initial episode [1]. About 15-35% of CDI patients suffer from recurrent infections [2].

Can C. diff cause long term problems?

The overall burden of C. difficile colitis is, therefore, huge. Patients with CDAD are at risk of not only treatment failure and/or early recurrence [1, 2], but, as we show here, also long-term, debilitating, recurrent disease and death.

What kind of infection can you get from C diff?

Clostridium difficile (C. diff) is a type of bacteria that can cause colitis, a serious inflammation of the colon. Infections from C. diff often start after you’ve been taking antibiotics.

What does C diff stand for in medical terms?

C. diff (sometimes mistakenly shortened to “c dif” or “cdif”) is the proper shortened version of Clostridium difficile [klo–strid–ee–um dif–uh–seel] ( C. difficile ), which is a type of bacteria that causes inflammation and infection of the colon, known as colitis. C. diff is also a shortened way of referring to the infectious colitis itself.

What happens when you swallow C difficile bacteria?

If you touch a surface contaminated with C. difficile spores, you may then unknowingly swallow the bacteria. Once established, C. difficile can produce toxins that attack the lining of the intestine. The toxins destroy cells, produce patches (plaques) of inflammatory cells and decaying cellular debris inside the colon, and cause watery diarrhea.

What are the symptoms of Clostridioides difficile infection?

Overview. Clostridium difficile (klos-TRID-e-um dif-uh-SEEL), also known as Clostridioides difficile and often referred to as C. difficile or C. diff, is a bacterium that can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammation of the colon.