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Updated: May 8, 2026

Culturing and Maintaining Clostridium difficile in an Anaerobic Environment
Published on: September 14, 2013
Transmission of Clostridium difficile in foods
Dallas G Hoover1, Alexander Rodriguez-Palacios
1Department of Animal & Food Sciences, University of Delaware, 531 South College Avenue, Newark, DE 19716-2150, USA.
Abstract:
Clostridium difficile is a human intestinal pathogen most frequently involved in diarrheal illnesses following the administration of antibiotics. There is growing concern that some C difficile infections (CDI) may be acquired from ingestion of C difficile spores in contaminated foods. The number of CDI cases is increasing with a heightening in the severity of disease symptoms and an increasing number of community-associated infections not connected to health care-associated risk. This article provides an overview of information related to assessing the risk of foodborne transmission of CDI, highlighting studies on C difficile relevant to food safety in health care settings.
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