CLOSTRIDIUM DIFFICILE

Clostridium difficile is a bacterium of the family Clostridium. It is an anaerobic bacterium and produces spores that can survive for a long time in the environment.

It can cause diarrhoea, ranging from a mild disturbance to a very severe illness with ulceration and bleeding from the colon. It extreem cases it can be fatal.

People most at risk are those who have taken strong antibiotics, which reduce their resources of 'good' bacteria, and the elderly - over 80 per cent of cases are reported in the over 65s.