DNA Sleuths Track C. difficile Infection Routes

摘要

Studies that track one of the most common hospital-acquired infections suggest that current efforts to control it are missing the mark, by a large margin. The bacterium Clostridium difficile sickens 336,000 Americans each year and kills 14,000, according to figures released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-a 400% increase in deaths and hospitalizations since 2000. Infection can cause watery or bloody diarrhea so severe that the kidneys fail from dehydration. To control outbreaks, thought to spread mainly through patients' feces, hospitals isolate people with symptoms and require health care workers to wear gloves, frequently wash hands, and decontaminate everything from toilets to windowsills to call buttons with bleach.