Q&A With Colleen Kelly, MD, From Brown Alpert Medical School: Diagnosing C-Difficile

A growing concern in the field of gastroenterology has been the growing number of patients diagnosed with Clostridium Difficile. The condition, which can have a negative impact on a patient's quality of life can include symptoms like severe diarrhea.

Colleen Kelly discussed the condition during the American College of Physicians Internal Medicine meeting in Boston. Kelly said that while the condition used to be mostly limited to elderly patients who had been hospitalized but is now expanding to younger patients. She said one of the major contributors to the condition becoming more common is the increase in antibiotic use.