Author Interviews, C. difficile, Gastrointestinal Disease / 20.12.2019
Asymptomatic Patients Carry C. difficile Bacteria for Deadly Diarrhea Into Hospital
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Sarah W. Baron, M.D
Assistant Professor
Division of Hospital Medicine
Department of Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center
Bronx, New York
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: We know that C. difficile can be a deadly and highly infectious disease but that it has been difficult to control. We also know that some people carry C. difficile in their body without symptoms but can still spread the organism or become sick with it themselves at some point in the future.
This study attempted to answer two main questions:
1. First, how many patients coming into a large, urban academic medical center carried the organism C. difficile without any symptoms and
2. How many of those carriers without symptoms then went on to have the symptoms of C. difficile within 6 months? (more…)