Anyone know anything about the c. difficile hospital superbug?

[mummydoit]

Dad has contracted this. He was in hospital in July, having a stomach tube fitted as he can't swallow due to cancer of the oesophagus. He came home with an infection in the PEG (bit where the tube goes in) which hasn't cleared up. He was rushed to hospital on Tuesday and it's now been confirmed he has c. diff (clostridium difficile). Not good news for anyone but particularly not someone who was on chemotherapy and therefore has a compromised immune system. He's being given the appropriate antibiotics and, after a very anxious couple of days, is holding his own but I wondered if anyone has any experience and could tell us what to expect.

[nailpolish]

its fairly common unfortunately in hospitals
in normal circumstances it causes horrendously smelling diarrhoea
usually cleared up with antib's
easily spread but hand washing with soap prevents the spread

[mummydoit]

He definitely has the diarrhoea. He's being barrier-nursed at the moment to prevent infection (hand washing on the way into his room and on the way out). I just wondered how long the diarrhoea would continue and when he would be able to go home. He's been in hospital a week tomorrow and the diarrhoea is as bad as ever and he's spending most of his time asleep.

[nailpolish]

hmmm
after a week i would hope to see an improvement

has he had a lot of antib's recently? unfortunately catching c diff can be common in those who have been treated a lot with broad spectrum antib's
the usual treatment is to stop whatever antib's they are on (for a different thing?) and let the normal flora in the gut return to normal
if the c diff persists then a very strong anti b can be used like vancomycin

hth

[nailpolish]

i hope your dad gets better soon
xx

[mummydoit]

They did try broad spectrum antibiotics when he first came out of hospital as his wound wasn't healing. I think they tried two or three kinds. They've been stopped and he's been put on something else which I guess must be the vancomycin.