Connect With Us on Twitter
For Op-Ed, follow @nytopinion and to hear from the editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, follow @andyrNYT.
"When Pills Fail, This, er, Option Provides a Cure" (front page, Jan. 17) provides welcome visibility to the underreported epidemic of Clostridium difficile, or C. difficile, which claimed my mother three years ago.
Estimates from the Department of Health and Human Services indicate that yearly deaths from the disease exceed 28,000, or more than double the 14,000 cited in the article, and rivaling the number of Americans killed every year by guns and traffic accidents.
The Dutch study on the efficacy of fecal transplant treatment provides hope for thousands of people touched by the disease. The article, however, doesn't mention that a major barrier to C. difficile treatment of any kind is a missed diagnosis for its symptoms of diarrhea, cramps and fever.
Erroneous diagnosis for a disease in which consuming antibiotics is often the root of disease and not the cure also contributes to its severity.
For this disease in particular, greater clinical and public awareness can alleviate suffering and save lives.
CHRISTIAN JOHN LILLIS
New York, Jan. 24, 2013
The writer is executive director of the Peggy Lillis Memorial Foundation, an advocacy group devoted to preventing C. difficile infections.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Letter: Intestinal Infection
Dengan url
http://opinimasyarakota.blogspot.com/2013/01/letter-intestinal-infection.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Letter: Intestinal Infection
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar