It’s not unique to Quebec anymore. It’s turned up in 7 provinces according to this CMAJ report. I previously mentioned it here.
1 comment:
Anonymous
said...
Perhaps I can help you out with this c-diff thing. I have had it since January, figured it out on my own after all stool samples (sorry to be graphic, but it seems foolish to us pretty words for an ugly disease)came back negative for anything. Only a colonoscopy confirmed my own diagnosis.
Baylor University in Texas has been studying this new strain of c-diff and has been doing a number of clinical trials. Desperate to find a cure, I called them and plaintively asked if someone from Connecticut (just outside New York City) could be in one of their trials.
They very kindly called back. I spoke for about an hour with Nancy Logan (tel: 713-791-1414, extension 5455, e-mail: njarrar@bcm.tmc.edu)who said that this particular trial was done and that the results were (my word) stunning.
A drug called Nitazoxanide has proven to be more effective than vanco or metronidazole. It has been used previously, and world-wide, to treat pediatric patients for Giardia (a bug that is, as it were, child's play when compared to this new strain of c-diff).
I do suggest you look into this. I am right now finishing up a second round of vanco, bolstered by, of all things, a medication used for tuberculosis and meningitis -- Rifampin, 300 mg 2x daily. I'm taking that, along with the vanco, for a total of 10 days, along with probiotics.
Two days after starting this regime I finally got rid of that dreadful smell that characterizes c-diff, so I have made some progress, but I still have the diarrhea and am exhausted.
If, when I am finished with this course of medications, I still have symptoms, I am going to go onto the Nitazoxanide. I shall call Nancy and ask her for dosages.
Baylor has done a great deal of research into this bug. Remarkably, very remarkably, this new c-diff and its toxicity have received virtually no media coverage in the U.S. I am starting a concerted effort to change that.
Even more remarkably, our Center for Disease Control knows that this is, in their own words, an epidemic, and that this new strain is very toxic and killing people, and yet they do not require the reporting of cases. They require that Giardia be reported, but not this bug.
It does make one feel as if one is in a twilight zone, what with the lack of knowledge (my gastrenterologist did not even know that there WAS a new strain, much less that it is in Connecticut (and 15 other states, by CDC measures -- in fact, it is probably country-wide).
I did not mean to rattle on for so long. I hope you have gotten rid of the bug, but if you have not, do consider looking into the Baylor trials. Go to http://www.clinicaltrials.gov and/or get in touch with Nancy.
1 comment:
Perhaps I can help you out with this c-diff thing. I have had it since January, figured it out on my own after all stool samples (sorry to be graphic, but it seems foolish to us pretty words for an ugly disease)came back negative for anything. Only a colonoscopy confirmed my own diagnosis.
Baylor University in Texas has been studying this new strain of c-diff and has been doing a number of clinical trials. Desperate to find a cure, I called them and plaintively asked if someone from Connecticut (just outside New York City) could be in one of their trials.
They very kindly called back. I spoke for about an hour with Nancy Logan (tel: 713-791-1414, extension 5455, e-mail: njarrar@bcm.tmc.edu)who said that this particular trial was done and that the results were (my word) stunning.
A drug called Nitazoxanide has proven to be more effective than vanco or metronidazole. It has been used previously, and world-wide, to treat pediatric patients for Giardia (a bug that is, as it were, child's play when compared to this new strain of c-diff).
I do suggest you look into this. I am right now finishing up a second round of vanco, bolstered by, of all things, a medication used for tuberculosis and meningitis -- Rifampin, 300 mg 2x daily. I'm taking that, along with the vanco, for a total of 10 days, along with probiotics.
Two days after starting this regime I finally got rid of that dreadful smell that characterizes c-diff, so I have made some progress, but I still have the diarrhea and am exhausted.
If, when I am finished with this course of medications, I still have symptoms, I am going to go onto the Nitazoxanide. I shall call Nancy and ask her for dosages.
Baylor has done a great deal of research into this bug. Remarkably, very remarkably, this new c-diff and its toxicity have received virtually no media coverage in the U.S. I am starting a concerted effort to change that.
Even more remarkably, our Center for Disease Control knows that this is, in their own words, an epidemic, and that this new strain is very toxic and killing people, and yet they do not require the reporting of cases. They require that Giardia be reported, but not this bug.
It does make one feel as if one is in a twilight zone, what with the lack of knowledge (my gastrenterologist did not even know that there WAS a new strain, much less that it is in Connecticut (and 15 other states, by CDC measures -- in fact, it is probably country-wide).
I did not mean to rattle on for so long. I hope you have gotten rid of the bug, but if you have not, do consider looking into the Baylor trials. Go to http://www.clinicaltrials.gov and/or get in touch with Nancy.
Post a Comment