A new report from the CDC ( the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention) states that the incidence, mortality, and medical care costs for C. difficile infections have reached historic highs. From 2000 to 2009, the number of hospitalized patients with any C. difficile diagnoses more than doubled, from approximately 139,000 to 336,600, and the number with a primary C. difficile diagnosis more than tripled, from 33,000 to 111,000 . The estimated number of deaths attributed to C. difficile increased from 3,000 deaths per year during 1999–2000 to 14,000 during 2006–2007 . Ontario still refuses to report hospital deaths associated with C. difficile or other superbugs. If the number is proportionate to the US figure, about 600 deaths would be attributed to C. difficile per year. The CDC estimates "e xcess health-care costs" of hospital-onset C. difficile at $5,042–$7,179 per case with a national annual estimated excess health-care cost of $897 million to $1.3 bi
Notes from Leftwords -- Doug Allan