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Deaths from intestinal infection increase in NJ

Infection Control Monitor, February 2, 2006

New Jersey is seeing an increase in deaths from an intestinal bacterial infection that often strikes older hospital patients who have taken antibiotics, the New Jersey Star-Ledger reports.

Officials report that national occurrences have also increased, most likely due to an overuse of antibiotics for other ailments that is killing off the "good" bacteria used to control the growth of Clostridium difficile bacterium.

In New Jersey, the number of deaths attributed to the infection has doubled since 1997. State hospital discharge data reviewed by the Record of Hackensack found that 10,000 patients in New Jersey have fallen ill because of the infection, with 400 dying from it since 1997.

State health officials said that there were 109 deaths attributable to the C-diff infection in 2003, the most recent year for which figures were available.

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