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Updated: May 25, 2026

Culturing and Maintaining Clostridium difficile in an Anaerobic Environment
Published on: September 14, 2013
Clostridium difficile: the anaerobe that made the grade
1UK Anaerobe Reference Laboratory, Microbiology Dept, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK. jsandonbrazier@talktalk.net
Abstract:
Unlike other anaerobic bacteria of clinical importance, Clostridium difficile has managed to enter into the realm of public awareness. Following the trail blazed by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), C. difficile has made the transition from being an obscure anaerobic bacterium, mainly of interest to specialist anaerobic microbiologists, to that of an infamous "superbug" responsible for outbreaks of hospital-acquired infection that commonly result in serious disease and death. This report picks out key moments, particularly in the UK, which tracked the rise in both the public and political awareness of this organism.
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