Consumers Union policy brief hospital-acquired c. Difficile infections (CDI)

The growth of infections caused by Clostridium difficile (C.diff) is a highly alarming trend in hospitals today. In 1993 an estimated 86,000 patients were discharged from hospitals with C. diff infections. By 2005 there were more than 300,000 CDI hospital discharges.Death from CDI has doubled in the past few years as one strain of Clostridium difficile has developed antibiotic resistance and evolved greater toxicity. 2 A large-scale national prevalence study in 2008 revealed the CDI rate was 6.5 to 20 times greater than previous estimates.