What is the Estimated Burden of C. difficile in the United States?

Paul Feuerstadt, MD, assistant clinical professor of medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital/Gastroenterology Center of Connecticut, sheds light on the estimated burden of C. difficile infection in the United States.

Interview Transcript (modified slightly for readability):

“The estimated burden of C. difficile infection in the United States is pretty heavy. In 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a threat level of urgent for this infection, and that was based upon data from 1999 to 2010 that showed that there was a four-fold increase in mortality as a result of this, and over $1 billion dollars in excess medical costs were spent treating C. difficile.

The heartiest study looking at the epidemiology of C. difficile infection actually came in 2015 from Lessa et. al. They looked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s emerging infection program where they look at 10 counties throughout the United States and they estimate what’s happening on a national scale. Overall, they found that there were 453,000 cases of C. difficile during that year; there were 83,000 recurrences that year, and 29,300 patients died from complications of C. difficile.

And so, we can see that this is everywhere and it’s impacting very large populations.”