Kirsten Whittaker asked:


Hardly as well known as MRSA, the superbug C. diff (C. difficile or Clostridium difficile) is a species of bacteria that, in the wrong amounts, can bring on an infection that at best is very uncomfortable… and at worst a serious threat to your life. Once confined to patients in hospitals or the elderly living in long term care facilities, C. diff has now reached epidemic proportions in these settings. What’s more, virulent cases of C. diff have appeared in otherwise healthy adults, who hadn’t even been taking antibiotics, the usual culprit in these infections.

According to the CDC, the number of C difficile infections doubled between 1993 and 2003, with a sizeable increase coming after the year 2000. The more virulent strain was first identified at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in 2000, taking the lives of 18 patients. By 2004, the new aggressive C. diff strain had been seen both in the United States and other nations of the world. Studies showed it produces 20 times more toxin than the older strains.

You’ll come across the little troublemaker everywhere – in the air, water, dirt and both human and animal feces – which is where many people pick up the infection. Now you see why hand washing is so important! C. diff infection is also especially likely in hospitals or other health care settings where there are lots of people, heavy antibiotic use and patients with weakened immunity.

Once the balance of your intestinal microbes is thrown off (as often happens during treatment with broad spectrum antibiotics) the pathogen can take hold and start to produce dangerous toxins. These substances attack the intestinal lining, destroying cells and leaving pseudomembranes – telltale patches of inflammatory cells and decaying debris that can be seen on the interior of the colon.

Ironically, the treatment for a C. diff infection is – antibiotics, but different medicines than the ones that brought on the trouble in the first place. These drugs wipe out the abundance of C. diff and allow good bacteria to once more take hold in the digestive tract. Once the good bacteria are in control, damaging C. diff will be kept in check. Sounds sensible and it worked too… until the more virulent strain of C. diff come to take hold… able to thrive in spite of the drugs doctors use to beat it back.

The idea of bacteria becoming resistant to medications is not new – examples have been reported for the past 60 years. What certainly is a cause for concern is that the number of organisms, and the number of drugs that they’ve learned to “live” through, is growing all the time. Many experts believe that with our overzealous use of antibacterials and the like, we put these organisms under intense pressure to develop ways to resist our attempts to be rid of them.

What can you do to protect yourself and your family from a C. diff infection?

Here are some suggestions:

- Wash your hands – use water, antibacterial (regular soap works too) soap and scrub for a good 30 seconds, rinse and dry with a clean towel. Do this before every meal, as well as upon leaving any health care setting or caring for a sick relative at home.

- Eat yogurt with live cultures – especially if you’re being treated with antibiotics, though you should discuss your plans with your doctor first. Live cultures are a more natural way to try and maintain the balance of good bacteria in your digestive system.

- See your doctor – if you have symptoms such as watery diarrhea, fever, pain in the abdomen, nausea or loss of appetite so you can be diagnosed promptly and treated properly.

- Avoid broad-spectrum antibiotics if possible – discuss your treatment options with your doctor. Pharmacists are another source of good, accurate information on medicines and the organisms they are intended to treat.

- Consider probiotics – foods and supplements that are sources of “good” bacteria have shown promise in reducing the length of C. diff infections and are well known to help with diarrhea.

- Use bleach-based cleaners – to clean all surfaces in an area where someone with a C. diff infection has been.

- Hold off on prophylactic antibiotics – a common practice before surgery, this is now being reviewed and reconsidered by many physicians. Talk to your own doctor about the risks and benefits for you.

- Finish antibiotics – just because you feel better, doesn’t mean the bacteria causing the trouble are finished. When you stop a drug too soon, you encourage organisms to become resistant to that drug.

As the media becomes more aware of the dangers of the superbug C. diff and others, the alarming reports will start coming out of the woodwork. The good news is that hospitals and long term care facilities are aware and working on the problem. By following the suggestions you’ve found here, especially the one about practicing good hand washing, you can reduce your risk of this uncomfortable, potentially dangerous infection.

Richard Stooker asked:


Senior citizens are at high risk of catching bird flu during a pandemic because their immune systems are weaker due to their age.

While it’s true that not many bird flu victims of the current strain of H5N1 have been elderly, that’s probably because it’s in countries where the life expectancy is lower than in developed countries, so there just aren’t as many elderly people. Plus, they are not as likely to have direct contact with living or uncooked chickens.

However, once bird flu becomes contagious, we can expect that elderly will be just as at risk for catching the virus if exposed to it, and more at risk of dying from it or associated infections and consequences.

Regular flu shots may protect seniors to the extent that the shots keep them from becoming sick and weakened from catching ordinary flu. The flu shots themselves are for the 3 most common strains of ordinary flu going around, not for bird flu.

Eventually there will be a bird flu vaccine, but it will not be exactly targeted toward the contagious strain of H5N1. That means it will provide only partial protection from the contagious strain. Since seniors have weakened immune systems, they will have less ability to benefit from the cross-immunity.

Therefore, the main strategy to protect seniors from bird flu is still social isolation — to stay away from as many people as possible to avoid exposure to the virus.

Just as children should be kept out of day care centers and schools during a bird flu pandemic, seniors should stay away from adult day care centers.

Of course, many seniors are socially isolated anyway, which is normally not good, but it could save their life during a bird flu pandemic.

Of course, family members should look in on their senior relatives, but this contact should be limited, and children should be kept at home, since they can easily transmit infection.

A big risk to seniors will be not getting professional care and medicine for their other medical problems. A bird flu pandemic will not make heart attacks, high blood pressure or strokes disappear, but will severely strain the ability of hospitals and clinics to care for anybody except flu victims.

So seniors should try to make some arrangements with their care providers for emergency service in the event of a pandemic. Also, they should arrange for the stockpiling of their regular prescription medicines, since they may be unable to obtain them at their usual drugstore after the transportation system is disrupted.

Nursing homes will be of particular concern, since residents of them will be particularly weak and at risk from infectious diseases. Nursing home staff should be particularly careful to clean their hands thoroughly when going from resident to resident. All staff and visitors should wash their hands and rub alcohol lotion on them frequently.

In fact, frequent hand washing is one of the best ways for everyone to protect themselves from contagious flu. So make sure everybody in your family of all ages washes their hands well and frequently.

It’s also important that nursing home staff members who have sick families members or who feel sick themselves stay home, to avoid bringing bird flu to the nursing home. Unfortunately, staffing shortages will probably be a problem simply because of the staff themselves becoming sick, dying or just plain hiding out at home.

Seniors may object to anything new, but they should be encouraged to take any supplements that can increase the strength of their immune systems: Vitamin C, zinc, selenium, Omega-3, beta carotene and others.

And of course, consult with their doctor, especially regarding chronic medical conditions.

Groshan Fabiola asked:


Strep throat is a disease caused by Group A streptococci bacteria. It is very important to treat this disease, because, there are cases when it causes arthritis or heart problems.

When the doctor founds out that the patient has strep throat, he will prescribe antibiotics. This medicines help the immune system to get rid of the bacteria. Usually, the treatment lasts for ten days, and it was seen that after 24 hours have passed since you started the treatment, you will feel much better, and you are no longer contagious. But, it is very important to continue the treatment until the 10-days period is over, because the remaining bacteria can develop resistance, and a worse infection can occur.

It is known that strep throat is very contagious. If someone from the school, one of your friends or a member of the family has strep throat, there is a chance that you may get that too. If you are near a person that has strep and that person sneezes or blows his nose, the bacteria may spread to you.

It is important not to share the same spoons, forks, towels, and to wash your hands as often as possible. You can’t avoid bacteria, but you can lower the chances to develop a sore throat.

If you go to the doctor, first he will look in your mouth to see which is the situation of your throat and tonsils. The throat may be red and the tonsils swollen and covered with white or yellow spots. It is also possible to appear spots on the roof of your mouth.

To determine if there is a strep throat, the doctor will perform a rapid strep test.

He will rub a cotton swab over the back of your throat, and after that, in less than an hour, if the test turns to be positive, he will know it is dealing with a strep throat. But, the test may be negative, and then, in order to be sure if there is or not a strep throat, he will do a test called throat culture. It takes about 2 days that test to be ready.

If the doctor founds that you have a strep throat, he will give you antibiotics. Usually, the most prescribed antibiotic is a form of penicillin. It is important to finish the treatment, even if you start feeling better.

In adittion, you can take acetaminophen to get rid of pain, fever and aches, and have soothing drinks, but you should avoid spicy and acidic foods.

In order to avoid spreading the bacteria, it is important to stay at home the first 24 hours after you started antibiotic treatment.

There are a few things you can do in order to prevent strep throat if someone in your house has it, but it is important to know that there does not exist a solution to avoid the infection, you can only reduce the chances of getting it.

You should keep sores and cuts clean, wash your hands regularly and make sure that the person with strep covers his mouth when sneezing or coughing.

For more resources on different strep throat subjects check out this link http://www.strep-throat-center.com. You can find great content regarding strep throat in adults, strep throat symptoms, home remedy for strep throat and many more strep throat related issues.