This is the podcast surgery.

I see rounds.

My name is Jeff Guy.

The topic that I'd like to talk today is not a particularly glamorous one, but it's one

that we're seeing more and more of a problem in not only intensive care units, but

hospitalized patients.

And that's the problem of Clostridium difficile colitis or C. diff colitis.

We are well aware of the problem with MRSA as a resistant

organism in our hospitals and our intensive care units. And C. diff colitis is rapidly approaching

a problem of the magnitude of MRSA. The organism that causes Clostridium difficile produces toxins, which are labeled as toxin A and

toxin B, into the lumen of the colon, and it's this toxin-mediated production that results

in a pretty severe diarrheal disease, which is often debilitating the patient, and in some

cases, can be lethal.

As like anything else nowadays, the names are constantly changing.

You may hear this referred to as C. Dipacil-associated diarrhea or C. dipicil-associated disease.

But what the more acceptable or politically correct answer nowadays is to call it C. Dificile Colitis or CDC.

Dialing colleagues reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2005,

they suggested that nearly all patients received the antibiotics before infection with a C. diffacil

colitis.

And subsequently, it's been shown that chemotherapy and the use of drugs that inhibit the gastric acidity

strongly increases the risk of C. difficile colitis.

Let me reread that for you in case you didn't catch that because this came up recently on our rounds and our burn unit.

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