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We are asking the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists to designate C. difficile as a Nationally Notifiable Disease (NND). This designation will ensure that every C. diff infection is counted whether it's diagnosed at a hospital, nursing home or an outpatient setting.
Sign our petition to make C. diff a Nationally Notifiable Disease. Together, we are asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and state healthcare officials to prioritize C. Diff prevention—giving it the necessary resources and attention to curb transmission rates. Be an advocate for patients and loved ones and take action today.
We, the undersigned C. difficile infection sufferers, survivors, caregivers, clinicians and researchers, are writing to urge the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the Council for State and Territorial designate C. difficile infections as a Nationally Notifiable Disease as of January 1, 2021.
WHEREAS, C. difficile infections are a primary cause of healthcare-associated diarrhea and colitis that conservatively afflicts 500,000 Americans a year, and directly causes or contributes to 29,000 deaths;
WHEREAS, current laws and regulations for reporting C. difficile infections allow for significant gaps and the data made publicly available is often 12-18 months old, rendering it useless for evaluating healthcare facilities in real time;
WHEREAS, multiple studies have shown that C. difficile spores can be found in nearly every healthcare and nursing facility as well as in non-clinical settings, including households and businesses, demonstrating the colonization can happen in the community;
WHEREAS, the Centers for Disease Control has designated C. difficile infections as one of its top 5 Urgent Antimicrobial Resistant Threats to public health in 2019, it is the only organism in that category not designated as Nationally Notifiable;
WHEREAS, C. difficile causes more deaths annually (29,000 in 2017) than the other four top Urgent Antimicrobial Resistant Threats combined (2017 CRA deaths = 700, 2017 CRE deaths = 1,100, 2017 N. gonorrhoeae deaths = 0), yet remains largely unknown by the American public;
WHEREAS, a study released in April 2020, showed that while hospital-acquired C. difficile infections declined between 2011-2017, community-acquired C. difficile infections have not;
WHEREAS, designation as a Nationally Notifiable Disease allows federal and local public health officials to identify and mitigate outbreaks of 70 other infectious diseases, the absence of C. difficile leaves communities unaware and undefended;
THEREFORE, we the undersigned respectfully request the CDC, ASTHO, and CSTE add C. difficile infections to the list of Nationally Notifiable Diseases no later than June 30, 2024.
According to CDC, "a notifiable disease or condition is one for which regular, frequent, and timely information regarding individual cases is considered necessary for the prevention and control of the disease or condition...
Monitoring surveillance data enables public health authorities to detect sudden changes in disease or condition occurrence and distribution, identify changes in agents and host factors, and detect changes in health-care practices. National-level surveillance data are compiled from case notification reports of national notifiable diseases and conditions submitted from the state, territory, and selected local health departments to CDC."
You will be familiar with many infections designated as Nationally Notifiable, like anthrax, chicken pox, measles, flu and tetanus. In partnership with the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists, the CDC regularly updates the list of nationally notifiable diseases.
To learn more visit the CDC's website: National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System.
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