Prevention

To help prevent the spread of C. difficile, hospitals and other health care facilities follow strict infection-control guidelines. If you have a friend or family member in a hospital or nursing home, follow recommended practices. Ask questions if you observe caregivers or other people not following guidelines.

Preventive measures include:

• Avoid unnecessary use of antibiotics. Antibiotics are sometimes prescribed for nonbacterial conditions, such as viral illnesses, that aren't helped by these drugs. Take a wait-and-see approach for these illnesses. If you do need an antibiotic, ask your doctor if it's possible to get a prescription for a drug that is taken for a shorter time or is a narrow-spectrum antibiotic. Narrow-spectrum antibiotics target a limited number of bacteria species and are less likely to affect healthy bacteria.
• Hand-washing. Health care workers should practice good hand hygiene before and after treating each person in their care. In the event of a C. difficile outbreak, using soap and warm water is a better choice for hand hygiene, because alcohol-based hand sanitizers don't effectively destroy C. difficile spores. Visitors also should wash their hands with soap and warm water before and after leaving the room or using the bathroom.
• Contact precautions. People who are hospitalized with C. difficile infection have a private room or share a room with someone who has the same illness. Hospital staff and visitors wear disposable gloves and isolation gowns while in the room.
• Thorough cleaning. In any health care setting, all surfaces should be carefully disinfected with a product that contains chlorine bleach. C. difficile spores can survive exposure to routine cleaning products that don't contain bleach.