A new report by the Ohio Department of Health has given public health officials a new target to consider. The report, which focused on the state's 210 hospitals and 966 nursing homes, concluded that there were about 14,300 cases of Clostridium difficile infections last year in the state's healthcare facilities. Tracking this bug has become particularly important as the mortality rate from such infections has climbed. C. diff.-related deaths in Ohio have shot up 325 percent between the year 2000 and 2005, and many other patients have suffered severe diarrhea and colon damage.
The research concluded that long term care hospitals had by far the highest rates of infection, ranging from 45 to 53 cases per 10,000 patient days. Standard acute care hospitals, meanwhile, had only seven to eight C. diff. cases per 10,000 days, and nursing homes two to three cases per 10,000 patient days. Developing the report cost the state and local health departments, hospitals and nursing homes a total of $2.5 million.
To learn more about the state's infection patterns:
- read this Akron Beacon Journal article