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C. diff. toxins A and BA new study [https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/new-research-confirms-high-toxin-levels-linked-to-more-severe-c-difficile-infection] shows that the amount of C. difficile toxins A and B in the gut is directly linked with the severity of infection symptoms. These symptoms, including diarrhea, stomach pain and nausea, result from C. diff. toxins damaging and destroying tissues inside the intestines.

“While prior studies had shown a possible association between stool toxin levels and clinical outcomes, this study was the first of its kind to convincingly demonstrate that the concentration of C. difficile toxins influences disease severity.”

– Carolyn D Alonso MD

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Have you ever driven your car with the emergency break on? It’s an easy thing to do and it can take a while before you notice. At first, the car just feels a little sluggish, so you give it a more gas. But it gets worse as you pick up speed and begin to realize something isn’t working right.
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Most people who have had a fecal transplant that I hear from say they experienced good results, at least in the short term. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has always been controversial for a number of reasons, including unknown long-term effectiveness and the procedure’s repulsive perception by patients.

But as a microbiologist, one of my biggest concerns had always been that dangerous infections might spread from the donor to the patient through the donor’s stool. Apparently that fear was well founded, according to a recent warning from the FDA.
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All of the bacteria and other microorganisms or flora living on and inside you make up your microbiome. More than any other part of your body, your microbiome drives your immune system and is the focal point for infections like C. difficile.

Did you know that the microbiome begins to form before birth, or that the foundation of the microbiome is built by age 3? The first two years of your baby’s life are when the most dramatic and influential changes happen to the gut flora. And these changes will persist, for better or for worse, for the rest of your child’s life.

There are many things that affect your baby’s microbiome. It all starts with your own health before birth. How you give birth, breastfeeding, how you introduce foods and exposure to antibiotic drugs all play an important role in your baby’s microbiome development 1,2. Below are five key ways to build your baby’s microbiome to support good health for the rest of their lives.
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Have you ever wondered why some people experience great results taking probiotics while others notice nothing? Or have you tried different probiotic products but seen few or no results?

If so, you’re not alone. With so many probiotic products on the market and so much advertising it’s hard to know which probiotics are best. But to recognize the best ones, you first have to understand how probiotics work and things that go into making a good probiotic product.

Michelle’s Free Video e-Course on Probiotics

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C. difficile is at the top of the list of superbug threads in the U.S. 1 and infections continue to grow in number and increase in severity 2. One of the biggest challenges with C. difficile is that there are only a few antibiotic drugs that work against it, and one of those drugs (Flagyl) has lost much of its effectiveness in recent years.

Therefore in 2017, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) released new guidelines 3 for which drugs should be prescribed for C. difficile. They also listed a relatively new and rather unorthodox treatment option for people with recurring infections.
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Dental workMost people don’t like going to the dentist, but this will make you think twice about your next visit. While you may expect to come home with a tooth ache, you don’t expect to wind up with a C. difficile infection.

Antibiotic use is a leading cause of C. diff infections. Antibiotics also damage your protective gut flora and weaken your immune system. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now admits that these drugs lead to antibiotic resistant superbug infections which can be difficult or impossible to treat.

So you don’t want to take antibiotics unless you absolutely have to. While a prescription from your doctor is the most common way to be prescribed antibiotics, a new report1 shows that dentists are a significant and overlooked source of antibiotic prescribing.
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