Did my father catch C-Diff on vacation in Mexico or just a coincidence?

[Anonymous]

I don't know anything about this infection but he has just been hospitalized with it just days after he and my mother and another couple returned from Mexico. He is not and was not on any antibiotic, which apparently can trigger a C-Diff infection in seniors. So I'm unsure how he "caught" it. He is the only one with this illness.

[Anonymous]

Did he drink the water?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did he drink the water?

I'm sorry, I don't know if you're being facetious. Seniors catch C-Diff from Mexico's water? I'm sure he avoided the water as advised. He's traveled there at least a dozen times.

[Anonymous]

It’s contagious so I guess he could have. My husband contracted it while in the ICU at Georgetown

[Anonymous]

You can get it from food—even the airplane bathroom is probably a contagion vector. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

C diff is increasingly common in the community. Don't blame Mexico.

[Anonymous]

My grandma got C-Diff while recovering from hip surgery in the hospital. They said the antibiotics from a couple surgeries close in time made her susceptible. We were warned how contagious it is. I was overly concerned about others getting it from her, but a nurse said I could get it off a grocery cart or anywhere. This was precovid before I really thought about how easy we can catch something infectious. Mexico may just be a coincidence.

I'm sorry your dad has it, I hope his recovery goes well.

[Anonymous]

Can someone explain how it's contagious? As in, it's from traces of a person's fecal matter, right? So like unwashed or poorly washed hands after a bowel movement and then they touch common areas and/or prepare food?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My grandma got C-Diff while recovering from hip surgery in the hospital. They said the antibiotics from a couple surgeries close in time made her susceptible. We were warned how contagious it is. I was overly concerned about others getting it from her, but a nurse said I could get it off a grocery cart or anywhere. This was precovid before I really thought about how easy we can catch something infectious. Mexico may just be a coincidence.

I'm sorry your dad has it, I hope his recovery goes well.

That's what I was reading. But that does not apply to him, so I was looking for other places it could have most likely come from. I had never heard of this infection. And my father has always been been super healthy.

[Anonymous]

Is my mother supposed to clean their home top to bottom with bleach and disinfectant?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain how it's contagious? As in, it's from traces of a person's fecal matter, right? So like unwashed or poorly washed hands after a bowel movement and then they touch common areas and/or prepare food?

Yes, that's how it's transmitted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain how it's contagious? As in, it's from traces of a person's fecal matter, right? So like unwashed or poorly washed hands after a bowel movement and then they touch common areas and/or prepare food?

I don't know the answer, but I do know every time scientists swab anything, they find fecal matter. The world is a sh!tty place, apparently and some of that sh!t is infectious.

[Anonymous]

It tends to be acquired in places like hospitals and nursing homes, but he could have gotten anywhere at all including Mexico, the airplane, the airport, at the grocery store at home, at a restaurant, the doctor's office, etc. I hope he feels better soon!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain how it's contagious? As in, it's from traces of a person's fecal matter, right? So like unwashed or poorly washed hands after a bowel movement and then they touch common areas and/or prepare food?

Yes, that's how it's transmitted.

It also lives in soil and mulch. Handwashing after gardening is important. But this also means you could get it from almost any raw produce.

Use soap for handwashing; hand sanitizer does not kill c. diff (or norovirus).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is my mother supposed to clean their home top to bottom with bleach and disinfectant?

PP who’s husband contracted it at the hospital. When we came home we gave him his own bathroom, washed his laundry separately and let him sleep alone for a few weeks. It’s a really terrible infection. Then cleaned with gloves, bleach, etc.

It’s was a shitty time in his life.