Health
Overuse of antibiotics can raise intestinal disorders
By IANS
Feb 4, 2006, 21:25

Overuse of antibiotics could raise intestinal disorders as they kill useful bacteria from the body, says a study that found such infection in 16 states of the US.

The infection - C. difficile - often strikes older hospital patients treated with antibiotics, reported news portal NorthJersey.com.

C. difficile causes severe diarrhoea and other potentially life-threatening complications. But scientists say it has also begun spreading among people of all ages even who have not been hospitalised or used antibiotics.

"The widespread use of antibiotics, particularly their inappropriate use, has contributed to the increased incidence of C. difficile," the researchers said. "It's important that people do not take them unnecessarily or demand them from doctors."

The disorder is usually treated with other antibiotics such as vancomycin and metronidazole. But antibiotic-resistant strains have been identified.

"This is very much in the forefront of epidemiology right now," said Cristina Cicogna of Hackensack University Medical Center at New Jersey.

In New Jersey, the germ has killed over 400 people since 1997. In 2004, there were 25 known outbreaks in hospitals of the region.

According to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the infection has so far been reported in 16 US states, including New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

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