Researchers say an intestinal infection that typically sickens hospital patients seems to have made the leap into the general population. USA Today reports that during a meeting last weekend of the Infectious Disease Society of America, researchers released studies on changes in the Clostridium difficile infection. Known as CDAD, the infection has usually been seen in people hospitalized and on antibiotics. However, studies presented at the meeting, which was held in Toronto and ended Sunday, found that CDAD was making surprising inroads with healthy people. For example, in a study of six hospital conducted in 2005, researchers in North Carolina and at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, found that nearly one in five people with CDAD got the infection before being admitted to the hospital, USA Today reported. In another study, researchers in Philadelphia reported that six otherwise healthy women were treated for CDAD this year. Three of the women were pregnant, one was a new mother, and two had hysterectomies. The researchers warned that doctors "should have heightened awareness for CDAD in this population," USA Today reported. Although a second the study of the six hospitals found that 59 percent of the CDAD cases did not involve the use of antibiotics, a CDC official said the drugs remain suspect in CDAD cases. Preeta Kutty, a CDC epidemic intelligence service officer, told USA Today, that antibiotics are "the most important modifiable risk factor," in CDAD cases. CDAD causes diarrhea and colitis but researchers also warned that the infection can also lead to perforation of the colon, bloodstream infections, and death. Clifford McDonald, a co-author of the CDC study, said it is unclear why CDAD is turning up outside hospitals. However, the community strain appears to be less severe than its hospital counterpart, McDonald told USA Today.