When Antibiotics Lead to Deadly Diarrhea…

When Antibiotics Lead to Deadly Diarrhea…

When Antibiotics Lead to Deadly Diarrhea…

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sent this bulletin at 11/16/2012 09:28 AM EST

When Antibiotics Lead to Deadly Diarrhea…

It’s day five of Get Smart for Antibiotics Week! In today’s Safe Healthcare Blog, Matthew Wayne MD, CMD, of the American Medical Directors Association (AMDA) takes a close look at Clostridium difficile, a major cause of acute, antibiotic-associated diarrhea in our nation’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Clostridium difficile results in nearly 14,000 deaths each and every year, of these deaths 90% involve people 65 years and older. As a patient, caregiver, or nursing home facility, there’s a lot you can do to prevent these potentially deadly infections.

To learn what you can do, we invite you to join the conversation at http://blogs.cdc.gov/safehealthcare/.

For more information on antibiotic use in the nation’s long-term care settings, see CDC’s fact sheet on antibiotic use in nursing homes [PDF - 612 KB].