Empowered Patient Podcast Raising Awareness About Causes and Dangers of Clostridium Difficile with Christian Lillis Peggy Lillis Foundation
Christian Lillis is the Executive Director of the Peggy Lillis Foundation -PLF - is on a mission to raise awareness about the highly contagious disease Clostridium difficile and to get C. diff recognized as a nationally notifiable disease. The Foundation is also providing a nutrition and lifestyle guide to give patients the ability to know what to eat to prevent recurrence and help prevent C. diff and other infections.
Chris explains, "We've had some polls done that show about a third of Americans have heard of C. diff. They've heard the term. That doesn't necessarily mean that they understand it. Just because we hear a lot of things doesn't mean we have great knowledge about them. So, I'll address just a little bit about the disease itself, so people have a sense of it. C. diff is the most common cause of infectious diarrhea in healthcare settings. There are about half a million infections every year, and at this point, there are about 25 to 30,000 deaths each year. And something that I find remarkable is that in 2011, C. diff was considered the 17th leading cause of death for people 65 years and older. So, it has a huge impact, causing a lot of harm, a lot of death."
"The guide contains a wealth of information about foods that you can probably tolerate during an acute infection, as well as the foods that promote a healthy gut microbiome. That includes a lot of probiotic-rich foods, fiber-rich foods, and prebiotic-rich foods. And then something that we're particularly excited about is that the guide contains 30 recipes that are grouped into what is most likely to be tolerated and what foods will help restore the microbiome. And all of those recipes were developed or adapted by people who have battled C. diff based on what they found most helpful."
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