C diff spores resist bleach and remain viable on surgical scrubs andgown fabrics

Re:C diff spores resist bleach and remain viable on surgical... by verisimilitude on Thursday November 23, 2023 @11:20AM (#38394402)

These infections are a huge problem. My neighbor missed 2 _years_ of college recovering from a C. diff infection. And you are correct: fecal transplant is the way, for now.

Per the article, these bleach (sodium hypochlorite) resistant spores are a HUGE problem. At my office, we clean surfaces with quaternary ammonium compounds, and those are supposed to be superior against spores. But still, if the required contact times to disinfect surfaces keep increasing in healthcare settings, we are going to have a major issue where only the most resistant spore-forming bacterial strains survive (basically, we'll be selecting for the strongest... you know, evolution).

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Re:C diff spores resist bleach and remain viable on surgical... by TeMPOraL on Thursday November 23, 2023 @12:23PM (#38395093)

> basically, we'll be selecting for the strongest... you know, evolution

Fortunately TANSTAAFL[0] applies to evolution as well, right? Specific adaptations come with increased metabolic cost, so e.g. strongly bleach-resistant bacteria should eventually start losing resistance to other antimicrobials/antiseptics. Right?

[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_such_thing_as_a_free_lunch

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Re:C diff spores resist bleach and remain viable on surgical... by quaddo on Thursday November 23, 2023 @04:21PM (#38397707)

>TANSTAAFL

Man. Way to rustle the ol' memory tree.

I think the first time I saw this in print was in Programming Perl back in the mid-1990's.

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