Curbing Antibiotics Tied to Britain's Drop in C.Diff Limiting fluoroquinolones urged as control cornerstone

Restricting the use of fluoroquinolone antibiotics was more effective than measures such as "deep cleans" of hospitals in reducing the incidence of Clostridium difficile (C. diff) in Oxfordshire and Leeds, England, researchers reported. Antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin killed non-resistant C. diff bugs in the gut, enabling drug-resistant C. diffi bugs to thrive and inviting the rapid growth of resistant C. difficile, according to Derrick Crook, MBBCh, of the University of Oxford, and colleagues. National prescribing of fluoroquinolone and cephalosporin was highly correlated with incidence of C. diff infections (cross-correlations >0.88), by contrast with total antibiotic prescribing (cross-correlations <0.59) by 2006, they wrote in Lancet Infectious Diseases. http://www.medpagetoday.com/gastroenterology/generalgastroenterology/62719?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2017-01-27&eun=g721819d0r&pos=11