Signs and symptoms of severe infection include:

Which of the following signs and symptoms are associated with C. difficile infection?

Signs and symptoms of severe infection include:

• Watery diarrhea as often as 10 to 15 times a day.
• Abdominal cramping and pain, which may be severe.
• Rapid heart rate.
• Dehydration.
• Fever.
• Nausea.
• Increased white blood cell count.
• Kidney failure.

What are three symptoms of C. diff?

Symptoms might develop within a few days after you begin taking antibiotics.

• Severe diarrhea.
• Fever.
• Stomach tenderness or pain.
• Loss of appetite.
• Nausea.

What diagnostic test would confirm C. diff?

Stool Test The simplest way to detect C. difficile is through a stool test, in which you provide a sample in a sterile container given to you at your doctor’s office or a lab. A pathologist, a doctor who studies diseases in a laboratory, determines whether the sample has signs of C. difficile.

What complications are associated with C. diff?

In severe cases, C. diff infection can lead to life-threatening dehydration (from loss of fluids due to diarrhea), low blood pressure, a condition called toxic megacolon (an acutely distended colon that requires surgery), and colon perforation.

What causes C. difficile?

You are more likely to get a C. diff infection if you take antibiotics for more than a week. C. diff spreads when people touch food, surfaces, or objects that are contaminated with feces (poop) from a person who has C.

What is the ICD 10 code for C. diff colitis?

ICD-10 code A04. 7 for Enterocolitis due to Clostridium difficile is a medical classification as listed by WHO under the range – Certain infectious and parasitic diseases .

What is a PCR test for C. diff?

C. difficile toxin gene testing—this tests for the toxin genes using nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT), typically a PCR method. These tests are rapid and very sensitive methods to confirm the presence of C. difficile toxin gene.

What are three major risk factors for community Associated C diff infection?

diff risk factors include:

• older age (65 and older)
• recent stay at a hospital or nursing home.
• a weakened immune system, such as people with HIV/AIDS, cancer, or organ transplant patients taking immunosuppressive drugs.
• previous infection with C. diff or known exposure to the germs.

What is the pathophysiology of C. diff?

BY The pathogenesis of C difficile infection can be considered in 3 clinical phases: microbial suppression, collateral damage, and a window of vulnerability. The first phase involves suppression of the normal protective intestinal microbiota.

Is WBC elevated with C. diff?

Leukocytosis is common in C difficile infection (CDI) and the white blood cell (WBC) count levels may be quite elevated, a finding that portends a worse prognosis.

Can you have C. diff without watery diarrhea?

The incidence of C. difficile disease has been rising, and strains have become more virulent. In some forms of the disease, the patient doesn’t have diarrhea, and in such patients C. difficile can be deadly but difficult to diagnose.

What if vancomycin doesn’t work for C. diff?

If patients do not respond, vancomycin can be increased to 2 g daily and the addition of IV metronidazole and/or vancomycin enemas can be considered, as well as early surgical consultation.

Can you take Flagyl and vancomycin together?

Interactions between your drugs No interactions were found between Flagyl and vancomycin. However, this does not necessarily mean no interactions exist. Always consult your healthcare provider.

How do you code C. diff infection?

Enterocolitis due to Clostridium difficile, not specified as recurrent. A04. 72 is a billable/specific ICD-10-CM code that can be used to indicate a diagnosis for reimbursement purposes.

What is the ICD-10 code for History of C. diff?

difficile; ICD10+, International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, discharge code for C. difficile infection, A04. 7, as principal or associated diagnosis.

What is NAAT test for C. diff?

The NAAT tests for the presence of toxigenic C. difficile organisms in stool by amplifying one or more genes specific to toxigenic strains; the critical gene is tcdB, which encodes for toxin B.