| Medical Dictionary |
A Medical Dictionary of Medical Terminology
|
C. diff is a bacterium that can cause diarrhea and more serious intestinal conditions such as colitis. You may see it called other names, such as Clostridioides difficile (the new name), Clostridium difficile (an older name), and C. difficile. It causes close to half a million illnesses each year.
What causes C. diff infections?C. diff bacteria are commonly found in the environment, but people usually only get C. diff infections when they are taking antibiotics. That's because antibiotics not only wipe out bad germs, but they also kill the good germs that protect your body against infections. The effect of antibiotics can last as long as several months. If you come in contact with C. diff germs during this time, you can get sick. You are more likely to get a C. diff infection if you take antibiotics for more than a week.
C. diff spreads when people touch food, surfaces, or objects that are contaminated with feces (poop) from a person who has C. diff.
Who is more likely to get a C. diff infection?You are at more likely to get a C. diff infection if you:
The symptoms of C. diff infections include:
Severe diarrhea causes you to lose a lot of fluids. This can put you at risk for dehydration.
How are C. diff infections diagnosed?If you have been taking antibiotics recently and have symptoms of a C. diff infection, you should see your health care provider. Your provider will ask about your symptoms and do a lab test of your stool. In some cases, you might also need an imaging test such as an x-ray or CT scan to check for complications.
What are the treatments for C. diff infections?Certain antibiotics can treat C. diff infections. If you were already taking a different antibiotic when you got C. diff, your provider may ask you to stop taking that one.
If you have a severe case, you may need to stay in the hospital. If you have very severe pain or serious complications, you may need surgery to remove the diseased part of your colon.
About 1 in 6 people who have had a C. diff infection will get it again within the following 2 to 8 weeks. This is called recurrent C. diff. It could be that your original infection came back or that you have a new infection. Contact your provider if your symptoms come back.
For people who keep getting C. diff infections, treatments such as fecal microbiota transplants (FMT) have shown promising results. FMT uses stool (or bacteria from stool) from a healthy donor to try to restore the balance of healthy bacteria in your intestines.
Can C. diff infections be prevented?There are steps you can take to try to prevent getting or spreading C. diff:
Health care providers can also help prevent C. diff infections by taking infection control precautions and improving how they prescribe antibiotics.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Almost 1 of every 10 infants born in the United States are premature, or preemies. A premature birth is when a baby is born before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy. A full-term pregnancy is 40 weeks.
Important growth and development happen throughout pregnancy - especially in the final months and weeks. Because they are born too early, preemies weigh much less than full-term babies. They may have health problems because their organs did not have enough time to develop. Problems that a baby born too early may have include:
Preemies need special medical care in a neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU. They stay there until their organ systems can work on their own.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Your small intestine is the longest part of your digestive system - about twenty feet long! It connects your stomach to your large intestine (or colon) and folds many times to fit inside your abdomen. Your small intestine does most of the digesting of the foods you eat. It has three areas called the duodenum, the ileum, and the jejunum.
Problems with the small intestine can include:
Treatment of disorders of the small intestine depends on the cause.
Food allergy is an abnormal response to a food triggered by your body's immune system.
In adults, the foods that most often trigger allergic reactions include fish, shellfish, peanuts, and tree nuts, such as walnuts. Problem foods for children can include eggs, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, and wheat.
The allergic reaction may be mild. In rare cases it can cause a severe reaction called anaphylaxis. Symptoms of food allergy include:
Your health care provider may use a detailed history, elimination diet, and skin and blood tests to diagnose a food allergy.
When you have food allergies, you must be prepared to treat an accidental exposure. Wear a medical alert bracelet or necklace, and carry an auto-injector device containing epinephrine (adrenaline).
You can only prevent the symptoms of food allergy by avoiding the food. After you and your health care provider have identified the foods to which you are sensitive, you must remove them from your diet.
Salmonella is the name of a group of bacteria. In the United States, it is a common cause of foodborne illness. Salmonella occurs in raw poultry, eggs, beef, and sometimes on unwashed fruit and vegetables. You also can get infected after handling pets, especially reptiles like snakes, turtles, and lizards.
Symptoms include:
Symptoms usually last 4-7 days. Your health care provider diagnoses the infection with a stool test. Most people get better without treatment. Infection can be more serious in older adults, infants, and people with chronic health problems. If Salmonella gets into the bloodstream, it can be serious. The usual treatment is antibiotics.
Typhoid fever, a more serious disease caused by Salmonella, is not common in the United States. It frequently occurs in developing countries.
NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases