Is c-diff seriously contagious?

[sprintin08]

I am working as a nurse's aid in an assisted living facility this summer until i go back to school. Today, about 8 of the residents has severe diarrhea that I had to clean up. Some of the people had samples that are getting tested for c-diff. The nurse acted pretty sure atleast one had it. I wore gloves and washed my hands, but at one point the glove ripped in the middle of my palm and i had it all over my hand. Is c-diff really contagious? should i be worried???

[nkara, CNA]

well it is contagious but I wouldn't be overly worried. You washed your hands properly after contact. Being in this field your exposed to so many disease's even before your told to use precautions.

[Riseupandnurse]

Don't worry; as long as you washed your hand very well and didn't get it in your mouth you should be ok. I am assuming you have a normal immune system, etc.

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

C-diff is very contagious. Hand washing is the thing to pay attention to when leaving a C-diff room. Hot water and alcohol based sanitizers are no good. The motion of hand washing is what kills it. Wash long and hard with warm water.

[Lacie, BSN, RN]

Definitely good handwashing techniques but also consider the surface areas that the patient touches or comes into contact with. Visitors enter and dont wash hands coming or going then touch door knobs, tables, phone recievers, etc. You may be doing what you are supposed to do but not everyone else does. They laugh at me for cleaning off the computer keys before I use them LOL.

[Music in My Heart]

The motion of hand washing is what kills it. Wash long and hard with warm water.

You're not killing the spores, you're simply washing them off of your hands and down the drain.

[George_MSN]

Well, my first "tweet" on Twitter.com. Joined at the behest of Allnurses.com founder and fearless leader! And my first tweet was about C. Diff - go figure...

>

I have the same handle on Twitter (George_MSN) as I do on Allnurses. There is a cover story this week in Time magazine about Twitter. It concluded that much of the current web activity will become "twittified" in coming years - so that must include Allnurses!!!

[oslogirl]

Hi. I agree w the ops. Always thourougly wash your hands after all patient care. If you have to clean a patient with diarrhea, cdiff or not, treat it as if it is, and wear a gown if you can. You can never be too careful imo.

[nminodob]

If you are healthy you are not likely to get it yourself, but the other residents are at risk. As mentioned, washing with soap & water is the prescription! If it turns out c-diff is spreading to all of those people who have diarrhea expect to see some inservices at your job focusing on proper handwashing - sounds like the staff may need reminding.

Where I work in acute care they "terminally clean" the isolation room of the person who had c-diff after they recover. They use bleach to clean all the surfaces to eradicate spores.

[Lacie, BSN, RN]

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=6223223&page=1

Imagine how I felt when eating dinner and my patient pops up on my big screen TV!!! Very interesting story behind this and they continue to have difficulty eradicating the infection. When I questioned PPE for contact with this patient I was told "no big deal" considering a dialysis unit with very close contact in chairs patient to patient. Although we were doing what we were supposed to other patients still became infected. Waiting rooms, entrance doors, wheelchairs you name it. Sometimes it's impossible to bleach everything in a chronic clinic area. It's the "before" entering that main clinical area that can pose a big risk to other patients while they are waiting such as just opening the main door to enter:down:. One public bathroom in the waiting area and you cant monitor to see each patient washes hands leaving that bathroom or stepping onto that scale as the staff isnt anywhere in that area. Much like the waiting area in a doctors office. You can bleach daily but no way to between pt use.

[oslogirl]

Did you see the lady with the gold bracelets washing her hands? Yuck!

[Lacie, BSN, RN]

The daughter was seeking treatment for him related to a "stool transplant". My understanding it has shown thus far to be effective on the few patients it's be tested on but eww, dont know if I could go that far. I'm not sure if he ended up undergoing the procedure or not as they ended up having to place him in specialized care for long term and he has yet to return to our clinic. The family had him at 3 different hospitals and currently suing one for the infection as he spent months in the ICU.