The most common health care-associated bacterial infection in hospitals in the United States is Clostridium difficile. This pathogen secretes toxins that trigger diarrhea and colitis in 500,000 patients annually, killing approximately 29,000 people each year, and all at an annual cost to the U.S. health care system of approximately $6 billion. Ironically, exposure to antibiotics dramatically increases the risk of developing a C. difficile infection (CDI).
