Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 4, 2026
A Protocol to Characterize the Morphological Changes of Clostridium difficile in Response to Antibiotic Treatment
Published on: May 25, 2017
Changing pattern of Clostridium difficile associated diarrhoea in a tertiary care hospital: a 5 year retrospective
Rama Chaudhry1, Lovely Joshy, Lalit Kumar
1Department of Microbiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. drramach@rediffmail.com
Background & Objective:
Frequent use of broad spectrum antibiotics in hospitalized patients has increased the incidence of Clostridium difficile diarrhoea in recent years. In our tertiary care hospital in north India, C. difficile was responsible for 15 per cent of cases of nosocomial diarrhoea in 1999. A retrospective study was carried out to determine the frequency of C. difficile associated diarrhoea (CdAD) in our hospital, and to assess the effect of awareness among the hospital personnel and control measures taken to present C. difficile infection following the previous report.
Methods:
A retrospective chart review of all suspected cases of CdAD diagnosed at the hospital from January 2001 to December 2005 was done. Clinical specimens comprised 524 stool samples. All the samples were analyzed for C. difficile using culture and ELISA for toxin A and B. Attempts were made to type isolates using antibiogram, SDS-PAGE, gas liquid chromatography (GLC), PCR for toxin A and B gene fragments and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP).
Results:
A total of 37 (7.1%) specimens were positive for C. difficile toxin (11.2% in 2001, 9.4% in 2002, 8.6% in 2003, 5% in 2004 and 4% in 2005). The highest number of C. difficile toxin positive cases were from stool samples of patients hospitalized in the haematology/oncology ward (67.5% of all positive cases) followed by gastrointestinal surgery, neurology and nephrology wards. Of the C. difficile toxin positive samples, 15 (41%) were also positive for C. difficile culture. The isolates were grouped in to one, 3 and 5 groups using antibiogram, SDS-PAGE and PCR RFLP respectively. We observed an increase in the number of stool specimens tested for C. difficile infection but a decrease in C. difficile positives.
Interpretation & Conclusion:
A decrease in the number of C. difficile positive cases were noted during the 5 year study period though number of samples tested was increased. This may be due to stringent surveillance and an improved antibiotic policy followed in the hospital.
Related Concept Videos
01:30Urinary Tract Infection III: Diagnostic Studies and Interprofessional Care
01:26Healthcare Associated Infections I: Iatrogenic, Exogenic and Endogenic
HAIs significantly increase the cost of health care. Extended stays in healthcare institutions, increased disability, increased costs of medications, including specialized antibiotics, and prolonged recovery times add to the patient's expenses and the healthcare institution and funding bodies. Common...
01:30Development of Human Microbiota
01:18Dysbiosis of the Gut Microbiota
01:17Chronic Bowel Disorders: Introduction
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder affecting the gastrointestinal tract. The distinctive feature is recurrent abdominal pain associated with altered bowel movements, manifesting as constipation, diarrhea, or fluctuating between both. The...
01:25Inflammatory Bowel Disease III: Crohn's Disease