Heartburn Medication May Increase Risk for Serious Infection

---

Researchers from McGill University (Montreal, QC) have discovered that drugs that reduce gastric acidity, such as heartburn medications, may increase one’s risk for Clostridium difficile infection outside of a hospital setting.
The study traced variations in community-acquired cases of c. difficile over a 10-year period using the United Kingdom General Practice Research Database. It was discovered that more than 70% of those who developed c. difficile-associated disease had not been admitted to a hospital in the past year, and that less than half had not taken antibiotics in the three months leading up to the infection.
Though it is still difficult to contract this type of infection outside of a hospital setting, these results counter two commonly held beliefs about c. difficile: that it is strictly hospital-based and not otherwise entering the community, and that it results mainly from the overuse of antibiotics.
Researchers speculate that medications used to treat gastric acidity create a more hospitable environment for c. difficile, allowing it to colonize easily.
The findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.