C. difficile: Follow the Faeces

In this episode of Infection Control Matters, Brett and Martin talk to Professor Tom Riley about why we need to look well beyond the hospital to understand where Clostridioides difficile comes from.

Tom discusses the growing importance of C. difficile as a community-acquired infection and explains how antimicrobial use in agriculture, animals, animal faeces, food and the environment may all form part of the transmission pathway. We explore some findings from his research, including C. difficile contamination of potatoes and domestic kitchens.

We also discuss the challenges of controlling highly persistent spores in the environment, the potential role of foodborne transmission, and Tom's recent involvement with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, where genomic evidence from an onion-associated outbreak provided compelling evidence for foodborne transmission.

From animal antibiotics and manure to potatoes, kitchen sinks and the wider environment, this conversation challenges us to rethink where C. difficile comes from—and where infection prevention needs to look next.

Perhaps the most important message? To understand C. difficile, we need to follow the faeces.

Access the UN FAO report on toxigenic Clostridia in food here: https://openknowledge.fao.org/items/cce3d2ab-e8d7-4ab2-a349-dacba4eda392

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(195)

Trust Your Instincts? Wound Dressings, Airborne Microbes and Infection Prevention

Can something as routine as removing a wound dressing release microorganisms into the surrounding air? In this episode of Infection Control Matters, Martin and Brett explore a paper by Mellon and coll...

4 Nov 16min

The Beautiful Game of Infection Prevention: Can leadership lessons from the world of soccer help?

The central theme of this episode is that some of the most valuable lessons in healthcare leadership can be found on the football pitch. Drawing on his paper, Pitch Perfect: Healthcare Leadership Less...

21 Okt 28min

Cleaning is Patient Safety: Empowering the People Who Keep Hospitals Safe

In this episode, Martin Kiernan talks with Dr Alexandra Peters, President of Clean Hospitals, ahead of the annual Clean Hospitals Day on 20 October. They discuss this year’s theme of empowerment—why e...

8 Okt 19min

Evidence or Efficiency? How We Make IPC Decisions

In this episode, Phil Russo and Brett Mitchell are joined by Dr Shalini Elangovan from Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore to discuss her global study exploring how IPC professionals make decisions. ...

24 Sep 24min

RCTs in Infection Prevention and Control - Are we getting the evidence that we need?

In this episode of Infection Control Matters, Martin Kiernan talks to Brett Mitchell about a new review of RCTs in IPC over the past two decades. The review identified 239 trials, with a striking incr...

9 Sep 22min

Who Do You Listen To? The Hidden Influencers of Hand Hygiene

In this episode, Brett and Martin discuss a cluster RCT from the Journal of Hospital Infection that took a very different approach. The researchers used social network analysis to identify the people ...

26 Aug 12min

WISDOM: Using AI to Prioritise Surgical Wound Review

Artificial intelligence has enormous potential in healthcare, but where can it genuinely improve infection prevention without replacing clinical judgement? In this episode, Phil Russo and Martin Kiern...

29 Jul 34min