Clostridium difficile Infection (C. diff)
How Do You Feed Your Microbiota?
Scientists know that the community of microbes that lives in your digestive tract is unique to you (your microbiota). They hypothesize that if you want to stay healthy, you have to keep the community …
Show 1395: Gut Check–How Digestive Health Infl…
This week, we talk with integrative gastroenterologist Robynne Chutkan about why our digestive health is so important. Of course, our digestion provides us with the nutrients that power our bodies, in…
Show 1386: Why Survival Depends on Natural Balan…
The term “homeostasis” was coined about a hundred years ago. What does it mean? Essentially, it is a way of describing how various systems in the body work together to maintain internal equilibriu…
Probiotic Can Help Prevent C. Diff Due to Antibi…
Have you ever experienced a bad bout of diarrhea after finishing a course of antibiotics? This reaction is not uncommon. Now, researchers are beginning to recognize that often this problem is caused b…
What Are the Alternatives to Colonoscopy?
Colorectal cancer is the third most common type of cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among American adults. If it is detected early, before it spreads, colorectal cancer can be treat…
Show 1270: How Your Microbiome Shapes Your Immun…
In the middle of a pandemic, you probably want to know how well your immune system is functioning. Even more important, what if anything can you do to support it? Scientists have found that the microb…
Show 1222: How Can You Optimize Your Microbiome?
The microbiome–the genome of our collective microbiota–has become a trendy topic in medicine lately. With more microbial than human cells in our bodies, it’s becoming clear we should think of ou…
Hand-Washing as a Survival Skill
Really effective hand-washing has always been critical for helping us stay healthy, but it has never gotten more attention than it is now. People striving to avoid infection with COVID-19 must rely on…
Did Clindamycin Lead to Terrible Diarrhea?
For decades, doctors have known that the antibiotic clindamycin could cause terrible diarrhea. Back then, they called it "pseudomembranous colitis." Originally, they thought it was a bizarre side effe…
Do PPI-Type Acid-Suppressing Drugs Cause Allergi…
Most animals make strong stomach acid (hydrochloric acid or HCl). Sharks make stomach acid. So do snakes, camels, cows and hamsters. Of course, humans also make stomach acid. Was it all a big mistake?…
Show 1164: Will We Win the Race Against Emerging…
Dr. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928, after observing horrific lethal infections on the battlefields of the first World War. It was the first antibiotic to defeat a wide range of terrif…
Show 1159: Do Cold Sores Boost Your Risk for Dem…
The past few months have produced some fascinating science stories from international sources. We interviewed two scientists in far-flung places to learn more about unexpected ways that microbes inter…
Clindamycin and C. Diff Infection: A Devil’s R…
The FDA has a black box warning in the prescribing information for clindamycin (Cleocin). That represents the highest alert for physicians and patients about this antibiotic. It says in part: “Becau…
C Diff Infections Are No Longer Limited to Hospi…
C diff infections, caused by bacteria known as Clostridium difficile, were once thought to be limited to hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities. Such infections can cause severe, o…
Will Artificial Sweeteners Harm Your Microbiota?
Artificial sweeteners are extremely popular, since they appear to allow us to break the rules and enjoy sweet drinks or treats without gaining weight. The FDA has approved a number of artificial sweet…
Is Liver Cancer a Risk of Acid-Suppressing Drugs…
Not again! We are sick and tired or reading about another potentially serious side effect of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). Over the last few decades the list of very worrisome adverse reactions has g…
Should You Take Probiotics with Antibiotics? New…
Health professionals in the U.S. have been slow to embrace probiotics. European doctors have been recommending probiotics with antibiotics for a long time. For reasons that puzzle us, American physici…
Will Poop Pills Stop Deadly Diarrhea?
Doctors may soon be offering some of their patients with serious diarrhea a very unusual prescription: capsules filled with frozen poop from healthy people. Technically, of course, these poop pills co…
Recurrent Diarrhea Is More Common, Harder to Tre…
Clostridium difficile infections can cause life-threatening diarrhea. Experts estimate that half a million people contract C diff infections annually and nearly 30,000 die. Once people develop C diff,…
Overlooked Antibiotic Side Effects Can Destroy L…
Antibiotics are amazing. The discovery of penicillin was one of the greatest advances in modern medicine. But Americans love of antibiotics has gotten out of hand. They think of such drugs as magic bu…
Do People on PPIs Have More Infectious Diarrhea?
Is it smart to block the production of stomach acid with powerful proton pump inhibitor drugs (PPIs)? Millions of people take these drugs to control acid reflux, ulcers or gastroesophageal reflux…
Are You at Risk from Another Patient’s Ant…
By now, most people realize that a course of antibiotics can disrupt the ecology of the intestinal microbes and make a patient more vulnerable to diarrhea. This can usually be attributed to an overgro…
A Medical Mistake Leads to Tragic Death
In May, 2016 researchers at John Hopkins University ignited a firestorm of controversy with an article in the BMJ titled "Medical Error--The Third Leading Cause of Death in the US." They suggested tha…
How to Improve Digestive Health with a Poop Tran…
How do you feel about poop? Most people prefer not to talk about it. That's why we have so many euphemisms: number two, stool, feces, manure, crap or BM for bowel movement. No wonder you probably neve…
Is Your Doctor’s Tie and White Coat Making…
Several years ago we learned that British health professionals were told that they could no longer wear ties or white coats. In 2008 the UK's National Health Service (NHS) banned ties and white coasts…
What Else Could Hospitals Do to Reduce Deadly In…
Hospital acquired C. diff infections cause dangerous diarrhea that can be life-threatening. A new study almost 400 hospitals shows that nearly half of them have not taken all recommended precautions t…
Acid-Suppressing Drugs Raise the Risk of Repeat …
Clostridium difficile, or C diff for short, is a hard-to-treat intestinal infection that can cause severe diarrhea. An infection may greatly extend a hospital stay, and sometimes the diarrhea associat…
Frozen Poop Pills Make Fecal Transplant More Pal…
Patients who develop Clostridium difficile infections are afflicted with debilitating diarrhea. When these bacteria take over the digestive tract after antibiotic treatment they can be very difficult …
Fecal Transplant Cured Dangerous C Diff Intestin…
Q. My sister had a knee replacement in October and came home with a C diff infection. Strong antibiotics were tried but nothing helped. She was so sick that her children rushed her back to the hospita…
Nurse Became Victim of Hospital Mistakes
Q. Last year I was hospitalized after lying dehydrated in the ER for 18 hours while waiting for a room. I was admitted with the wrong diagnosis and given the wrong treatment (which included a broad sp…
Poop Transplant Can Reverse Deadly Diarrhea
Q. A friend of mine almost died from C diff diarrhea that she developed after taking the antibiotic clindamycin. She had to be hospitalized for two weeks, and she had bad diarrhea at least 30 times a …
Stool Transplant Overcomes Deadly Intestinal Inf…
Fecal microbiota transplantation has a high yuck factor, but researchers continue to demonstrate that it is an effective way to treat a potentially deadly intestinal infection caused by overgrowth of …
Stool Transplants Save Lives
Q. I suffered with unrelenting diarrhea caused by a C. diff infection that was not fazed by powerful antibiotics. My insurance company spent thousands of dollars on my treatment, but still the diarrhe…
Fecal Transplant Fights C Diff
The intestinal infections caused by a germ called Clostridium difficile are very difficult to treat. The nasty infection that can cause debilitating diarrhea often appears in the aftermath of antibiot…
Treating C Diff with Synthetic Stool
A Canadian company reports that it has come up with another way to deal with the complications of a C. diff infection. Researchers have created an artificial stool that provides purified intestinal ba…
Unnecessary Death from Severe Diarrhea
"I had a friend who was prescribed clindamycin by her dentist for an infection in her gums. A few weeks later, she started having diarrhea and went to her doctor. She did not mention taking the clinda…
An Effective but Extreme Diarrhea Treatment
When people are given certain antibiotics such as clindamycin they sometimes develop a devastating diarrhea that can become life threatening. Here are just a few of the scores of stories we have recei…
Heartburn Drugs Linked to Horrible Diarrhea
Acid-suppressing drugs have become the go-to drugs for digestive distress. Medications such as Prilosec and Prevacid were once only available by prescription. Now these brands and their generic equiva…
Disastrous Diarrhea Was Almost Lethal
Q. Recently I needed to have a tooth extracted. The periodontist prescribed amoxicillin and on the tenth day I came down with severe diarrhea (like the prep for a colonoscopy). This started on Friday …
Fecal Transplant Restores Gut Flora
Q. Many years ago, I developed a terrible Clostridium difficile (C diff) infection in my gut from antibiotic treatment for Chlamydia. Vancomycin did not cure the C diff, which was painful. My elderly …