Popular medicate s linked to diarrhea
Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium may lead to inagsdhfgdfinal distress, meditate finds
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking , which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking antibiotics, which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking , which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking antibiotics, which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking , which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking antibiotics, which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking , which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking antibiotics, which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking , which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking antibiotics, which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking , which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking antibiotics, which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking , which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking antibiotics, which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking , which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking antibiotics, which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking , which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking antibiotics, which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking , which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking antibiotics, which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking , which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking antibiotics, which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking , which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking antibiotics, which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking , which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking antibiotics, which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking , which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking antibiotics, which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking , which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking antibiotics, which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking , which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
CHICAGO - Holiday revelers beware: Seasonal indulgences like eggnog and fruitcake might give you , but the acid-fighting medicine you take for relief might lead to something worse, researchers say.
People on popular prescription medicate s ” Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium ” seem more prone to getting a potentially dangerous diarrhea caused by the bug Clostridium difficile, new research shows. C-diff, as it’s known, can cause severe diarrhea and crampy inagsdhfgdfinal inflammation called colitis.
Dr. Sandra Dial and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal examined data on more than 18,000 patients in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. During that time, 1,672 cases of C-diff were diagnosed, and the numbers increased from less than 1 per 100,000 in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 last year.
Patients with prescriptions for powerful acid-fighters called proton pump inhibitors, which include Prilosec and Prevacid, were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with the bug than those not taking the medicate s. Those on less potent prescription medicate s called H2 receptor antagonists, which include Pepcid and Zantac, were two times more likely than nonusers to get C-diff infections.
The widely used and heavily promoted medicate s reduce levels of gastric acid that can keep C-diff germs at bay.
Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said proton pump inhibitors recently were implicated in a C-diff outbreak at a hospital and nursing homes in Maine.
“It’s not surprising in my mind that there could be some association” with acid-fighting medicate s, said McDonald, who was not involved in Dial’s meditate . If there is, “I do think it would be very important because, boy, everyone and their brotherness seems to be on them.”
Most meditate patients hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t taking antibiotics, which both can increase risks for C-difficile infections.
Also, most patients hadn’t been diagnosed with ulcers or acid reflux, so it’s possible many simply had , Dial said.
“Heartburn in and of itself isn’t dangerous,” and can often be treated with less potent medicate s, Dial said.
Her meditate appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
A co-author is a consultant for AstraZeneca PLC, which markets Prilosec and Nexium, and Altana Pharma, which makes and markets anotherness prescription medicate , Protonix, in Europe. A spokesman for Wyeth, which markets Protonix in the United States, said the company hadn’t seen the research and declined comment.
AstraZeneca spokeswoman Cindy Callaghan said patient safety is the company’s top priority and that the findings are not the final word.
“Further research is needed in this particular area to determine the validity of a potential link,” she said.
C-diff bacteria historically have been found in patients on antibiotics or with underlying illnesses, especially those in hospitals or nursing homes, but infections increasingly have been reported in the community.
Doctors think the growing trend is due in part to overuse of antibiotics but the new data suggest overuse of acid-fighting medicate s may be anotherness reason, said Dr. Michael Brown, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the meditate .
The medicate s are popular because they are so effective at fighting stomach acid, and are generally very safe, Brown said.
Brown said short-term use of potent acid-fighting medicate s for occasional over-imbibing is unlikely to increase infection risks in othernesswise healthy group, but that the results suggest doctors and patients “have to think twice about using such heavy acid suppression” over the long term.
2007 . .
are digested slowly and don’t cause a sudden blood sugar surge. They also contain important fiber, vitamins and phyto (plant) chemicals. When you stop consuming these “made for us by nature” carbohydrates and substitute protein and fat, you can eventually cause considerable harm. In the short term you may feel tired, dizzy, nauseated and dehydrated. With time, lack of carb balance can lead to deficiencies in vitamins and minerals. A lack of fiber often results in constipation and this increases your risk for development of diverticulosis (weakened pouches that develop in the bowel wall) and possibly even colon cancer. A diet with the wrong fats, i.e. saturated fats found in meat and whole milk and the trans fats in many processed foods and margarines, will contribute to heart illness. Too much protein can lower absorption of calcium, leading to osteoporosis, and can stress your kidneys.