A large outbreak of Clostridium difficile‐associated disease with an unexpected proportion of deaths and colectomies at a teaching hospital following increased Fluoroquinolone use

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Fluoroquinolones have not been frequently implicated as a cause of Clostridium difficile outbreaks. Nosocornial C. difficile infections increased from 2.7 to 6.8 cases per 1,000 discharges (P < .001). During the first 2 years of the outbreak, there were 253 nosocomial C difficile infections; of these, 26 resulted in colectomy and 18 resulted in death. We conducted an investigation of a large C. difficile outbreak in our hospital to identify risk factors and characterize the outbreak

Moral Problems of Loneliness in the Family

In consequence of the globalization process and of an unprecedented development of the electronic media – that abolish the time and space barriers – the world has been called a global village. It could seem that owing to this fact people would easily get closer to one another. However, what can be seen is the quickly growing phenomenon of loneliness. The range of atrophy of deep interpersonal bonds is so serious that the term „lonely crowd” has been coined. This happens so because the possibilities and technical facilities themselves – although they undoubtedly constitute a chance – cannot form deep interpersonal relations, as the relations are formed by people who can become an unselfish gift and accept others as a gift. Unfortunately, the occurring civilization transformations, and a disintegration of the traditional family that happens along with them, contribute to an increase in the lack of understanding and in loneliness in the family circle. Loneliness in the family results from the lack of proper bonds between its members. Hence being together is often reduced to the physical presence devoid of a deeper, spiritual dimension. Living together, but not united, leads to solitude that can affect everybody: the spouses, children, elderly people. In order to be a real community a family has to constantly discover anew its communal identity. Marital and familial „community of persons” – although it grows from a gift of the loving God – is a task for the people forming it

The Man and Morality in the Postmodernist World

Contemporary culture is characterized by a variety of definitions of man. This indicates, on the one hand, the multidimensional and multifaceted character of the truth about man, and on the other, leads to quite considerable confusion in the answer to the question: who is man? It seems that the basic perspective for presenting the situation, in which contemporary man has found himself is determined by postmodernism and the life style it offers. Although the question of postmodernism does not exhaust all the complex range of important problems of the modern world, one has to realize that its ideas – especially now, in the era of electronic communications – have spread and are present in all the world, assuming a more and more global character. In the postmodernist world the integral vision of man is often substituted by partial definitions that reduce man to “something” inside man. The occurring changes assume such dramatic forms that they are defined as “anthropological catastrophe”. The so-called new cultural model of man who takes a radically new attitude towards himself, toward another man, and ultimately also towards God appears from them. Postmodernism questions subjectivity and transcendence of the human person, whereby it contributes to destruction of morality. This current, destroying proper relations between freedom and truth in man, is situated in the area of modern forms of the basic anthropological error

The Family as the „School of Social Virtues”

Any integral conception of education – including family education – must acknowledge the need for social education, which is due to the fact that the human being can develop only as the social being. However, the readiness to enter social personal relations can be taken for granted as automatic. It requires continuous effort and formation. Social education should take into account the good of the community and the good of the educated person. This is why the concept of participation is of particular use in educating for social life. Participation does not only mean engaging in social relations, looking for external links with the world. Participation draws upon relations that stem from the internal structure of the personality. This is why participation constitutes something more than a kind of human action through which people cooperate. In this sense, participation is a human attribute, thanks to which a person acts with others to self-realize him/herself. The role of the family in social education cannot be overestimated. Family life helps discover the depth of selfless love, teaches responsibility for others in the name of the common good. When the developmental environment of the family offers appropriate models, a young human can discover that he/she lives „through others”, and learns to live „for others.” In this way, the family becomes the „school of fuller humanity” and the „school of social virtues.” This is why the family should be looked at as the foundation of proper social relations and the most effective tool of humanization and personalization of the society