Meat-Centered Diets And The Proliferation Of C. Difficile Superbugs
250,000 U.S. citizens are sickened by the C.difficile bacteria every year, which results in 14,000 deaths a year. On top of the deaths treatment of the C.difficile infections cost in excess of 1 billion dollars a year in medical expenses.
C.difficile bacterial infections have been on the rise since 2001. The bacterial infection has been managed with powerful antibiotics but unfortunately the bacteria has become resistant to the antibiotics.
This bacteria takes up home in the intestine and because the bacteria has become resistant to treatment, and there has been a rise in having to do surgery to remove the colon.
Surgery is not the answer all of the time because the surgery is so risky it results in death nearly half of the time the surgery is performed.
C.difficile Meat Infections
These infections historically have resulted from contracting the bacteria during hospital stays, but that has changed and now most infections are the result of meat consumption.
C.difficile infections in pigs are the most concerning because the major strain that is occurring in people outside of hospitals is the strain that is found in pigs. Just as C.difficile attacks the colon in humans, C.difficile is a major cause of colon infection in piglets.
C.difficile contamination in pig meat is of great concern because of the high rate of C.difficile pigs shed into their feces that pigs roll around in, and which ends up in the pork bought and consumed.
The United States has the highest levels of total C.difficilie contamination in the world, and C.difficile has been found to be in 1 in 6-10 packages of all chicken parts on store shelves.
Cooking To Kill C.difficile
It is recommended to cook pork well and not to eat it raw because of the numerous diseases pig meat contains, which includes the C.difficile bacteria and infections like cysticerci larva that causes epilepsy.
The thing is cooking pork well might kill the bacteria that is on the surface of the pork, but it is not as effective in killing the bacteria that inside the meat.
