Yes, brandon, that is the gist of it, that those who aren't so compromised in health and intestinal flora usually deal with it ok. Apparently it hasn't morphed (excuse me, I am just guessing that there was a morph of some sort to bring up a virulent e. coli strain to trouble our hamburgers - e.coli was easy going in my day, or we thought it was).
Ah, I love to talk about this stuff, but I am, lessee, 25 years out of lab medicine and 40 out of bacti classes. The time between '65 and '80 I was a rheumatology/hematology/immunology tech and not reading about various organisms. So my knowledge is rather infantile while I'm an enthusiastic poster.. Let's say I have memories of understanding.
I always watch pdog's posts since he is getting all the new skinny.
Yeah, Brandon's right: if it could take root in a normal gut, hospital employees would be at enormous risk, and they ain't.
My bad.
Risk factors, according to CDC:
Quote:The risk for disease increases in patients with:
antibiotic exposure
gastrointestinal surgery/manipulation
long length of stay in healthcare settings
a serious underlying illness
immunocompromising conditions
advanced age
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/hip/gastro/ClostridiumDifficileHCP.htm
