Clostridium difficile- FYI

[chipmoore]

Some good stuff at this U of Chicago site, check it out:

Clostridium difficile

http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi...65?cookieSet=1
Section 2 Strategies to Detect CDI
A CDI case is defined as a case of diarrhea or toxic megacolon without other known etiology that meets 1 or more of the following criteria: (1) the stool sample yields a positive result of a laboratory assay for C. difficile toxin A and/or B, or a toxin‐producing C. difficile organism is detected in the stool sample by culture or other means; (2) pseudomembranous colitis is seen on endoscopic examination or surgery; and (3) pseudomembranous colitis is seen on histopathological examination.
Section 3 Strategies to prevent CDI
Less is known about the mechanisms and prevention of C. difficile transmission, compared with other antimicrobial‐resistant gram‐positive organisms, such as MRSA and vancomycin‐resistant enterococcus (VRE). Although these 3 organisms have many common epidemiologic characteristics, C. difficile and VRE, in particular, share risk factors for transmission.33 The major difference among these 3 organisms is that C. difficile forms spores, whereas the other 2 do not. The formation of spores has novel (as yet unknown) implications for methods of hand hygiene and environmental disinfection, because C. difficile spores are resistant to the bactericidal effects of alcohol and most hospital disinfectants.

Chip Moore
Rochester, NY
Retired but involved