Cdiff odor?

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please describe the smell of cdiff

is comparable to?

Is it acid, sweet, spicy?

Is it terrible that I really want to smell it now? As a NICU nurse I've never actually smelled it, and I'm feeling a little left out. Recognizing *the smell* is like a nursing rite of passage.

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I have found out recently that C.Diff doesn't necessarily HAVE to have a smell.

30-something male patient with inflammation throughout entire GI tract -- esophogitis, gastritis, duodenitis, pancreatitis, colitis, etc... And this was not the main presenting problem, which was Etoh withdrawal (hence all the inflammation). Was intubated and sedated for several days and started having copious amounts of liquid stool that was somewhat dark, but what caught my attention was that it was viscous, almost oily in appearance, and it had literally no odor. There were times he'd have 600mL of stool every couple of hours, while his foley output was scant due to compounding renal issues, so you'd be emptying a fairly full bag of stool and still no odor. When the MD ordered a C.Diff test my initial thought was "okay, but it doesn't smell like C.Diff".

Wanna guess what it was?

I've had 2 patients who didn't have a c.diff odor but were c.diff +, but both of those were caught really early.

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But Davey Do, do you think people would buy it? lol.

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Is it terrible that I really want to smell it now? As a NICU nurse I've never actually smelled it, and I'm feeling a little left out. Recognizing *the smell* is like a nursing rite of passage.

Its like seeing all your friends smoking, and wanting to smoke too. Just say NO!, lol.

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Specializes in Nursey stuff.

Years ago when my first year students asked me to describe the the odor of Pseudomonas, I replied, "its perfume has the rotten sweetness of corruption." This quote, one of my favorites is from "The Big Sleep," by Raymond Chandler...

Asked if he like orchids, The character General Sternwood replies, "Ugh. Nasty things. "Their flesh is too much like the flesh of men, and their perfume has the rotten sweetness of corruption." I truly think being intentionally vague,and creative in description invites critical thinking or observation, in this case smelling, among bright new nursing students.

"No really," my students would beg, "what really does it smell like?" To me it smells like grandma's musty cellar." As for a GI bleed..."someone has been pooping quarters." However, I like the words corruption and putrefaction, they can be used to describe everything. Exsanguination is another favorite, although its use may be slightly limiting.

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Specializes in retired LTC.

And the winning description is a tie - PPs workitin and kbrn describe it well . Sweet like a garbage can.

Honorable mention goes to PP Ddestiny for the description of being viscous and oily.

And like others have said, once you know it, you'll never forget it.

And it LINGERS!

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
"its perfume has the rotten sweetness of corruption." This quote, one of my favorites is from "The Big Sleep,"

But Davey Do, do you think people would buy it?

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
And like others have said, once you know it, you'll never forget it.

And it LINGERS!

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Specializes in retired LTC.

Davey - your last post here has me laughing out loud. Really does.

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I've had antibiotic resistant c-diff 4 times. Each time I had to have stool transplants to treat it. The first time I had Cdiff I didn't notice any smell. But the last 3 times I've noticed a very sulfur smell, like rotten eggs. I currently have Cdiff now. I somehow have some rare form of Cdiff that my gastric specialist called "microscopic Cdiff" that never really goes away. I have flair ups every 6 months to a year. Each time I've been hospitalized for 1-2 weeks. It's a horrible, painful illness. It feels like someone is literally stabbing you with steak knife in the gut all over.

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I'm a nursing student, and I haven't smelled it yet...

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Specializes in Hematology-oncology.
That sounds almost like an ad for a perfume or cologne, jodispamodi!

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ROFL!! :dead:

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