Hospital Infection Control: Clostridioides difficile
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Updated: Dec 27, 2025

Culturing and Maintaining Clostridium difficile in an Anaerobic Environment
Published on: September 14, 2013
Nicholas A Turner1,2, Deverick J Anderson1,2
1Duke University Medical Center, Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Durham, North Carolina.
Abstract:
Clostridioides difficile remains a leading cause of healthcare-associated infection. Efforts at C. difficile prevention have been hampered by an increasingly complex understanding of transmission patterns and a high degree of heterogeneity among existing studies. Effective prevention of C. difficile infection requires multimodal interventions, including contact precautions, hand hygiene with soap and water, effective environmental cleaning, use of sporicidal cleaning agents, and antimicrobial stewardship. Roles for probiotics, avoidance of proton pump inhibitors, and isolation of asymptomatic carriers remain poorly defined.
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