Information for Patients and Families
Norfolk General Hospital takes your care and your safety very seriously, and we are committed to transparency. On a monthly basis, beginning in September 2008, we will be reporting our C. difficile infection rates on our website. If you have any questions about the information below or about our hospital’s infectionprevention and control program, please contact Infection Control.
Measuring Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) rates Norfolk General Hospital posts its infection rates online on a monthly basis. On thiswebsite, you can find information about hospital-acquired infection rates for C. difficile.
What are hospital-acquired infections? Sometimes when patients are admitted to the hospital, they can get infections. Theseare called hospital-acquired infections. In the case of C. difficile, this may mean thatsymptoms began 72 hours after admission to the hospital; or that the infection waspresent at the time of admission but was related to a previous admission to that hospital within the last four weeks.
What is C. difficile?C. difficile (Clostridium difficile) is a bacteria. C. difficile can be part of the normalbacteria in the large intestine and is one of the many bacteria that can be found in stool (a bowel movement). A C. difficile infection occurs when other good bacteria in the bowel are eliminated ordecreased allowing the C. difficile bacteria to grow and produce toxin. The toxinproduced can damage the bowel and cause diarrhea. C. difficile is one example of ahospital-acquired infection and is one of the most common infections found in hospitals and long-term care facilities. C. difficile has been a known cause of health care associated diarrhea for about 30 years.
Who is at risk for C. difficile?Healthy people are not usually susceptible to C. difficile. Seniors, and people who have other illnesses or conditions being treated with antibiotics and certain other stomach medications, are at greater risk of an infection from C. difficile.
What are the symptoms of C. difficile?The usual symptoms are mild but can be severe. Main symptoms are watery diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain /tenderness. In some cases there may not be diarrhea. Blood may or may not be present in the stools.
How do you get C. difficile? C. difficile is the most common cause of hospital associated infectious diarrhea. Since it can be part of the normal bacteria that live in the large intestine, taking antibiotics can change the normal balance of bacteria in your large intestine making it easier for C.difficile to grow and cause an infection. Old age and the presence of other serious illnesses may increase the risk of C. difficile disease.
How does C. difficile spread?
When a person has C. difficile, the germs in the stool can soil surfaces such as toilets,handles, bedpans, or commode chairs. When touching these items, your hands canbecome soiled. If you then touch your mouth, you can swallow the germ. Your soiled hands can spread germs that can survive for a long time on other surfaces if not properly cleaned.The spread of C. difficile occurs due to inadequate hand hygiene and environmentalcleaning; therefore, proper control is achieved through consistent hand hygiene and thorough cleaning of the patient environment. Good hand hygiene i.e. washing hands thoroughly and often is the single-most effective way to prevent the spread of infectious diseases like C. difficile.
Hand Hygiene Program
How is C. difficile treated? Treatment depends on how sick you are. People with mild symptoms may not needtreatment. For more severe disease, antibiotics are required.
What precautions are used to prevent the spread of C. difficile in the hospital? If you are in the hospital and have C. difficile diarrhea, you will be put on precautions until you are free from diarrhea for at least two days. Your activities outside the roommay be restricted. All health care staff who enter your room will wear a gown and gloves. Everyone MUST clean their hands when leaving your room.
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