[Histonet] Re: Clostridium difficile - what do you do

[John Kiernan]

The school Latin pronunciation (classical rather than ecclesiastical) would be dif-ik-il-ay, but changing the k to s would be a reasonable anglicization, as is often done to make Latin names of plants and animals euphonious to anglophones. The name of this bacterium seems to be grammatically wrong because the nominative form is difficilis in all 3 cases. Difficile could mean "difficultly" but specific epithets are usually adjectives not adverbs. 
 
Newscasters nearly always say C. difficile with the last syllable rhyming with eel, as if it were a French word. This practice is is as ignorant as "the data is ...", or "what is the criteria for ...", or "a bacteria". Hrrrmph!
 
Cheers,   John Kiernan 
= = = 
On 03/12/11, Bob Richmond <rsrichmond <@t> gmail.com> wrote: 

> 
> I have no idea - possibly no special precautions - I'd address this
> question - about Clostridium difficile - to the right person at the
> CDC. They'll know.
> 
> While on the subject, how do you pronounce "difficile"? I say
> dih-FISS-illy - mostly on the basis of how Mozart pronounced it in his
> comic motet "Difficile lectu michi mars" (and never mind what that
> means in German).
> 
> Bob Richmond
> Samurai Pathologist
> Knoxville TN
> ******************************
> We are about to embark on a project involving C.diff infected GI tissue.
> 
> We have processes in place for PPE, decontamination/ disinfection
> etc... but I am looking for any evidence whether or not formalin
> fixation or subsequent tissue processing will inactivate the spores.
> 
> Also, do you take any special precautions in handling/sectioning the
> tissue /slides after paraffin embedding.
> 
> I am not coming up with much info with my web searches, so I am asking
> for help from any lab that works with C. diff.
> 
> Brett M. Connolly, Ph.D.
> Imaging Research Fellow
> Merck & Co., Inc.
> PO Box 4, WP-44K
> West Point, PA 19486
> 
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