Study: Calcium Levels Could Be Key to Contracting — and Stopping — C. Diff

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It lurks in hospitals and nursing homes, surviving cleaning crews’ attempts to kill it by holing up in a tiny, hard shell. It preys upon patients already weak from disease or advanced age.

It lurks in hospitals and nursing homes, surviving cleaning crews’ attempts to kill it by holing up in a tiny, hard shell. It preys upon patients already weak from disease or advanced age.

And when it reaches their guts, the bacterium known as Clostridium difficile breaks open its shell and unleashes infections that kill nearly 30,000 Americans each year — and sicken half a million more.

But, as new research shows, the bacterium commonly called C. diff can’t make this final, crucial move without enough of a humble nutrient: calcium.

That new insight may lead to better treatment for the most vulnerable patients.

Read more at Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan

Image: This image made by the research team shows Clostridium difficile bacteria cells in the process of forming hard-shelled spores. Such spores allow the organism to lurk in hospital and nursing home rooms and awaken only once they are in the small intestine of their next victim. The small bright particles are spores, while the long dark rod-shapes are C. diff bacteria cells. (Credit: University of Michigan - Hanna Laboratory)