Mary_and_Robert

‘My father underwent knee replacement surgery and was
subsequently given antibiotics and pain killers to stave off
infection. While in hospital he became very dehydrated and
experienced explosive diarrhoea. He was quickly
diagnosed with having contracted c. diff and put in isolation.
The c. diff infection was caused by the antibiotics he was
taking, which were upsetting the natural balance of “good”
bacteria in his gut. The c. diff bacteria flourished and
produced a toxin that caused diarrhoea and fever. My father
became very ill and was in considerable pain. He even lost
20lbs in weight through this infection.

‘As my father’s diarrhoea was so severe, the hospital
doctors prescribed vancomycin, an antibiotic that can kill the
c. diff bacteria. This seemed to do the trick and the infection
appeared to go away. Dad was then discharged from
hospital and I looked after him at home, while he was still
weak from the surgery and the c. diff infection. I was told that
it was important to keep the home environment and
especially our hands clean, to reduce the chance of
re-infection. To do this, I used a combination of soap and
water or alcohol wipes that were handy to keep around the
house.

‘Sadly the infection returned very soon after coming home,
maybe re-infection occurred just before we left the hospital, I
can’t be sure. My father became even more ill than the first
time the infection struck and he even had to have an
operation to remove part of his gut that was damaged by the
infection. This was a very traumatic time for us, especially
my father who I thought might die. I’ve since heard this is
quite common for elderly people to keep getting re-infected
with c. diff and many people die. Obviously I was extremely
worried about Dad’s health. I talked to several nurses about
what I could do to help prevent re-infection. A couple of the
nurses recommended using Tristel products. They had
friends in other hospitals that used Tristel as infection control
products. The nurses said that Tristel has been great for
specialist cleaning in hospitals and can kill the spores that
are released by the diarrhoea caused by the c. diff infection.
They told me that the alcohol wipes that I had been using
don’t actually kill the c. diff spores. I just wish that someone
had told me this sooner because my Dad might never have
got c. diff in the first place.

‘Luckily Tristel now sell products for the consumer market,
they used to only be available in hospitals. I bought the
Deeper Clean pack for us to use. I started using the Tristel
products on Dad’s bed frame, bedside table and cabinet in
the hospital with Tristel. Now that we have returned home
again, I regularly clean all hard surfaces with the wipes and
the Deeper Clean Gel so that we minimize the chances of
my Dad swallowing more c. diff spores. So far my father is
on the mend and hasn’t caught c. diff again. It looks like
Tristel did the trick in killing the spores.’