Clostridium difficile enteritis in a Canadian tertiary care hospital

Nosocomial Clostridium difficile enteritis causes epidemic and endemic infection. The authors report the incidence of C difficile enteritis in a tertiary care hospital. The overall incidence rate over two years in the authors' institution was 22.2 cases per 100,000 in-patient-days; this rate appeared to decline over the study period (from 30.0 cases per 100,000 in 1990 to 11.2 at study end in 1992). Continued surveillance will determine whether this is a durable trend. An average of 5.25 cases per month occurs in the authors' hospital. A 50% increase overall was selected as the threshold for outbreak investigation. Surveillance of ward and specialty specific rates will allow clustering detection.