BOSTON -- There is concern over a new type of superbug. Doctors call it C-diff. It is resistant to certain antibiotics. Eight patients have been killed by the infection in the UK. As News Center 5’s Heather Unruh reported Wednesday, C-diff is a growing problem in hospitals here in the United States.

Superbug Concerns Rise

Betsy Barrett is a mom of two. Kate just turned 4. Her youngest, Meg, came into the world unexpectedly early in February 2007.

“I was still five weeks early,” Barrett said.

Barrett’s water broke. She was put on antibiotics in the hospital to fight off infection. Meg was born small, but healthy. But a few weeks later, Barrett became sick.

“I would get a lot of leg cramps and stomach pain,” she said.

Barrett was diagnosed with C-diff, or Clostridium Difficile. It’s a dangerous intestinal superbug that causes diarrhea, and a more serious intestinal infection called colitis.

“We're seeing a lot more of it over the last few years,” said Dr. Esther Israel, a pediatric gastroenterologist with MassGeneral Hospital for Children.

C-diff has become a growing problem in hospitals. According to a new study by researchers at the University of Massachusetts, nearly 300,000 people were hospitalized with C-diff in 2005, more than twice as many as in 2000.

“It's one of those bugs we really try to keep a handle on in the hospital,” said Israel. “Most of the people who get it, get it while they're being treated with antibiotics,” she said.

It's especially dangerous, because it's grown resistant to certain antibiotics. When patients take those antibiotics, the infection explodes. It’s difficult to get kill with antibacterial soaps. Dr. Israel said you really need to use soap and water. Ironically, the infection is treated with antibiotics. But for Barrett, it took three courses of antibiotics over eight months to fight off C-diff.