Patients who take antihistamines to reduce stomach acid are at increased risk for infection with Clostridium difficile, a common cause of diarrhea, a new study finds…"It's not clear why these antihistamines increase the risk of C. difficile infection, because gastric acid does not affect C. difficile spores," senior author Dr. Larry Baddour, an infectious diseases expert, said in a Mayo Clinic news release. "However, it may be that vegetative forms of C. difficile, which are normally killed by stomach acid, survive due to use of stomach acid suppressors and cause infection."
Tags: antihistimines, C. difficile infection, diarrhea, Dr. Larry Baddour, gastric acid, HealthDay, Infectious Diseases, reduce stomach acid, Research, vegetative form