Introduction Though being a patient in a hospital may be vital to improving one’s health, there are often risks associated with staying in a hospital. One of these risks occurs when an individual acquires a nosocomial infection, otherwise known as a hospital-acquired infection. These infections are classified as hospital-acquired infections, because the individual becomes infected after visiting or staying in a health care facility (Ducel et al., 2002). One of the most common hospital-acquired infections that a patient may obtain is a Clostridium difficile infection. Such infections cause 12 percent of all hospital-acquired infections. Patients who are often at risk for this infection are those that have prolonged use of antibiotics, a history
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difficile infections cause such a burden on the healthcare system, there have been various studies on the dynamics of this infection to help determine potential therapeutic strategies. C. difficile is a Gram-positive, anaerobic, spore-forming bacterium (Koenigsknecht et al., 2015). It is transmitted among humans through fecal-oral route and can survive in aerobic conditions, because it spreads by spores that are resistant to heat, acid and antibiotics. Nevertheless, symptoms of the disease will not be present in all individuals infected with C. difficile, because colonization is often prevented by barrier properties of the gastrointestinal microbiota. Weakening of this resistance due to antibiotics, advanced age, and being immunocompromised often leads to pathogenesis of a C. difficile infection (Leffler and Lamont, …show more content…
difficile bacteria, the signals that trigger initiation within the location are still unknown. It is hypothesized that sporulation is triggered by environmental stimuli, such as nutrient starvation and other stress factors (Sorg et al., 2014). It has also been predicted that toxin production by C. difficile is also regulated by nutrient limiting settings. Such an environment must be regulated in the large intestine since toxin production, endospores and clinical symptoms or disease is only seen in the large intestine and colon (Koenigsknecht et al.,
difficile infections cause such a burden on the healthcare system, there have been various studies on the dynamics of this infection to help determine potential therapeutic strategies. C. difficile is a Gram-positive, anaerobic, spore-forming bacterium (Koenigsknecht et al., 2015). It is transmitted among humans through fecal-oral route and can survive in aerobic conditions, because it spreads by spores that are resistant to heat, acid and antibiotics. Nevertheless, symptoms of the disease will not be present in all individuals infected with C. difficile, because colonization is often prevented by barrier properties of the gastrointestinal microbiota. Weakening of this resistance due to antibiotics, advanced age, and being immunocompromised often leads to pathogenesis of a C. difficile infection (Leffler and Lamont, …show more content…
difficile bacteria, the signals that trigger initiation within the location are still unknown. It is hypothesized that sporulation is triggered by environmental stimuli, such as nutrient starvation and other stress factors (Sorg et al., 2014). It has also been predicted that toxin production by C. difficile is also regulated by nutrient limiting settings. Such an environment must be regulated in the large intestine since toxin production, endospores and clinical symptoms or disease is only seen in the large intestine and colon (Koenigsknecht et al.,