C. Diff & Diseases

C. diff Under-Performs 

Introduction: Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, has been making headlines lately. It was initially reported by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to be responsible for about 14,000 deaths per year. However, the CDC reported those findings based on death certificates, which do not always show the infection, but sometimes what the infection does. So, if C. diff shuts down someone's kidneys, it may read "kidney failure" even though the C. diff caused the kidney failure.

After checking with hospital records, USA Today found that the real number was closer to 30,000 deaths and 347,000 hospitalizations. For reference, there are about 32,000 car accident related deaths per year. I would wager most of us know of someone fairly close to us (maybe a friend-of-a-friend) that has died in a car crash. That would mean the odds are high that many of us know of someone who died from C. diff as well, although we may not we aware of it.

Also, it is worth noting that you are 10 times more likely to get C diff if you are over the age of 65. I don't want anyone thinking this stuff is running rampant in many random healthy people. Their most likely scenario is getting it after a hospital stay that included antibiotics. Even that doesn't mean you likely have it, just that you had a higher risk of exposure.

In this post, I will look at C. diff, but moreover at disease in general. What science has to say, and what religion and God might have to say regarding disease and why we have to deal with it.

Science Weighs In: First, I just want to clarify a few things that are not diseases. Fevers, coughing, sweating, itching, vomiting, runny noses, sneezing, chills, and fevers. These are the body's defenses for diseases, so they are related, but not the same.

There is a LOT of science when it comes to disease. Not surprisingly, we spend a great deal of time and money attempting to understand individual diseases, what they do to our bodies, and how to get rid of them and, further, prevent them from coming back or coming at all.

C diff: For today, let's just look a little at C. diff, and then think about the origin and development of disease over time.

C. diff is an interesting disease. It is a bacteria. If I were to ask all of you, "How do you treat a bacterial infection?" even though most of you aren't doctors, you would probably be quite confident that the answer is "With antibiotics." Well, when it comes to C. diff, antibiotics are actually the cause to the infection.

How? Well, some of us carry C. diff now and we transmit by touch, but it doesn't matter when our normal bacteria levels are healthy. Sometimes, with the use of some antibiotics, there will be a decrease of your normal bacteria to the point where C. diff will no longer be held in check and will release toxins that make you sick.

So what's the treatment? If you said antibiotics before, you would actually have been right! According to the Mayo Clinic, Flagyl (Vancocin for more severe cases) is usually used to treat. It prevents the C. diff from growing, so your natural bacteria can come back. Then you could take a probiotic to help prevent a relapse. About 1 in 4 people will relapse, so it is important to get back to a doctor if you don't feel well after you recover!

Where Diseases Come From: As I said above, there is a LOT of science to go with any disease so, to try and sum it all up, I will relate it to evolution. Even better, it is evolution.

There isn't a whole lot of debate on evolution. It's a pretty hardened fact of the world. There is the Missing Link, but it doesn't take much reasoning to believe that the link is out there somewhere. I will have another post on evolution on its own, because there is a lot to talk about, but I think that case is closing rapidly.

So, life on Earth began as a biological stew of sorts, then all manner of life came from this stew. If you could (even if you don't believe in what I am writing, do it for argument's sake), imagine tiny bacteria becoming more advanced. Becoming algae, seaweed, shrubs, and trees. Another set of bacteria becoming amoebas, plankton, krill, fish, lizards, birds, monkeys, and people. 

It is clearly apparent that all of these species interact. Eat each other, kill each other, and live among each other. Then imagine this, not all bacteria became what we see today. Some stayed as bacteria, some changed and maybe died out, while others kept on changing and evolving. Diseases are like everything else. Feeding, killing, and living among us. They are built to survive, as are we, and so there must be an eternal struggle among us. I ask this, is a C. diff death really all that different from a bear killing a hunter? They are both situations where one organism killed another within the cycle of life.

I'm sure I have not described this flawlessly but for me, a non-medical professional, it makes a lot of sense. It further makes sense that we would proactively work to prevent these situations and deaths so we continue to work on medicines, just like we continue to do what we can to isolate bears from our towns and cities. Disease has lived and grown with us since we arrived on this planet, and there is no reason to ever believe it will go away.

Bacterial Hunter/Gatherers

Religion and Disease: Most religions do not encourage people to never seek medicine to aid them with their health, but there are Christian Scientists out there, and they will allow medical treatment if you really want, but certainly don't think it is necessary and generally appear to discourage its use.

There are other religions such as Jehovah's Witnesses and Scientologists that will partially dictate what a person can receive from modern medicine. For example, blood transfusions are not allowed in these religions.

How did I find this out? When my wife and I were in the delivery room before the birth of our second child, the nurse was going through a checklist and asked my wife, "If you are losing blood and require a blood transfusion to survive, would you like us to give you one?" I think both of our jaws hit the floor at the same time, just wondering why anyone would agree to die when they didn't have to. I was taught that God's one true gift was life. Even if you believe that wasn't his only gift, if you are religious you definitely believe it is at least one of the gifts. So, if it is a gift, why would any viable religion teach you to throw that gift away when you don't have to?

Seriously, if you know the answer to that, please comment below!

God and Disease: I am electing not to spend much time here. The idea that God uses disease to cleanse the Earth of bad people is absurd. Bad people survive diseases all the time, with and without medicine.

Also, why would a child ever die from disease if it is supposed to be a trial? I mean, there really isn't much in the way of arguing that God infuses his subjects with disease, unless he just enjoys watching people suffer.

Religion vs God vs Medicine

The Middle: It strikes me when I hear about religious people who practice their faith in an in-between state. Where you receive medicine and pray, some people thank God but not the medicine and some are the other way around. Then there are the more extremists who shun God and live because of medicine, but some that shun God and live without medicine. Others shun God and die with medicine. Still others pray and live or die with or without medicine.

What is the right answer?!?!?

The Bible: The Bible confuses me when it comes to medicine, but I think it says that God is the one who does the healing. Psalm 103:3 "who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases," seems to spell it out, but then there are times where it shows that your body is a temple. This verse is really talking about sexual immorality, but it should apply to everything anyway, Corinthians 6:19 "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own."

Well that folks, to me, is quite the conundrum. We don't cure diseases, God should do that, but our body is a temple, but we shouldn't try to cure it with medicine?

As I will continue to argue, the Bible is a guide to being a good person. You should interpret (or not interpret) it in the way that makes the most sense to you. For me, it tells me to keep bad things out and, if they get in, get them out the fastest and best way you can. 

Conclusion: Disease is terrible, but it is a real threat to our lives from time to time. I haven't met anyone who has never been sick, so I think it is safe to say that you can't just avoid disease, you need to deal with it head on. We have looked at a few of the ways science and religion address disease but, because the spectrum of what people believe is so wide, I will now simply share my personal beliefs on prayer and its potential roll in medicine.

Finding strength in my belief of God, for me, is what praying really is. I don't know that he so much gives the strength to me, but rather I believe that I can find the strength in myself, both mind and body, when I pray to Him. I believe that this feeling of strength is good for my body and can help it fight and overcome disease. Then again, I am also firmly planted in the "medicine helps" world and, if my doctor tells me to take something to help with a disease, I'm all in!

To argue further, have you ever heard of anyone just giving up on life and dying within days? I have to say that, whatever you believe, this is some evidence that if you don't do something to help your mind and body feel strong, your life can end quickly despite getting the proper care at a medical facility. I think it shows a most definite correlation between how you think you feel, and bringing your body to that state. I'm not saying that positive thinking is a cure all, but I do believe there is something to it. There are studies that are backing this up, but nothing that I feel compelled to share, because they don't appear to be conclusive enough to me.

Once again, I am compelled to ask that you look internally and decide what you believe before a disease finds you. I think of it like CPR training. It's just better to think about how you would handle a tough situation before you are in it, so you don't have to think so hard when you are in a more panicked or desperate state.

It doesn't matter what religion you believe in, just that you find some confidence in your choice before you really need its help. It probably isn't the best idea to claim to be atheist, then turn to God to heal you. Nor would it be a great idea to abandon God if you would hold him responsible for giving you a disease. Know your answer before you find yourself in a hospital bed, listening to your heart rate descend (sorry for the downer). I think we all owe ourselves that much.