Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is one of the main pathogens causing nosocomial infections in the United States. Diarrhea, colitis, sepsis and lead to prolonged hospitalization and death. Mayo Clinic researchers say they have found a way to reduce acquisition of infection and reduce its frequency to a fraction of what it was.

The process requires constant daily cleaning of all surfaces of high contact with a chlorine disinfectant to kill the spores to clean in all patients in units with endemic rates of infection with C. difficult. The results were presented today at the Fifth International Conference on Health Ten-acquired infections in Atlanta, sponsored by the Society for Health Epidemiology of America, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and co- organized by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

“The goal was to reduce nosocomial infection rates of C. difficult in two of our units, the highest incidence of 30 percent,” said lead researcher Robert Orenstein, DO “Our data show that we exceeded that. When the study concluded at the end of last year, one unit had gone 137 days without nosocomial infection with C. difficult. “The team had hoped to increase the time between hospital-acquired cases more than 20 days between infections.

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Most donors and kidney recipients for the exchange of personal health information that may influence success before agreeing on an organ transplant from a living donor, while health professionals are more reluctant according to a study published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Clinical Nephrology (CJASN). The results suggest that physicians should consider supporting and facilitating the exchange of information prior to transplantation.

The living kidney donation is a complex decision with multiple medical, legal and ethical. In many situations it may be difficult to know what personal health information is important to share and what information should remain confidential. For example, knowing that the donor has high blood pressure can affect the willingness of a recipient to accept the gift, or a potential beneficiary who is HIV positive may fear that. Information may change the willingness of donors to make a donation.

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