Attorneyatlaw.com

A potentially deadly intestinal bug that is being found more often in hospitals and other health-care facilities is now also showing up in nearly half of pre-packaged grocery store meats, according to a newly released study.

Scientists from the University of Arizona sampled packaged meat brands sold nationwide and found that more than 40 percent of the samples tested positive for Clostridium difficile, a nasty intestinal bacteria also called as C. diff that can cause life-threatening diarrhea and other digestive problems.

The contaminated meats sampled included pre-packaged ground beef, pork, turkey, and read-to-eat meats such as summer sausage, officials said.

(more…)

A bacterial infection that can cause deadly diarrhea and other life-threatening conditions, particularly among the elderly and sick, is as much as 20 times more common than researchers previously thought, according to a new study.

Clostridium difficile, also called C. diff, affects as many as 13 out of every 1,000 patients in United States hospitals, which is between 6.5 and 20 times as many patients as previous estimates had found. On average, more than 7,000 infections and 300 deaths occur each day as a result of infection from C. diff, officials said.

The bacterial infection is becoming resistant to all but the most powerful antibiotics, making it similar to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a powerful infection dubbed a “superbug” that has recently garnered so much attention across the United States. MRSA is far more common than C. diff and affects an estimated 46 out of every 1,000 patients, officials said.

(more…)