Isolation of Clostridium difficile from the environment and contacts of patients with antibiotic-associated colitis

Journal Article · Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1981 · J. Infect. Dis.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/143.1.42· OSTI ID:5736489

Kim, K H; Fekety, R; Batts, D H; Brown, D; Cudmore, M; Silva, J Jr; Waters, D

Clostridium difficile is the most important cause of antibiotic-associated colitis, but its epidemiology remains unknown. Using a selective medium for the isolation of C. difficile, cultures were obtained from the environment and contacts of hospitalized patients carrying C. difficile in their stools. In areas where carriers had diarrhea, 85 (9.3%) of 910 cultures of floors and other surfaces, especially those subject to fecal contamination, were positive. In areas where there were no known carriers, only 13 (2.6%) of 497 cultures of similar sites were positive (P less than 0.005). C difficile was isolated from hands and stools of asymptomatic hospital personnel, from sewage and soil, and from the home of a patient. Environmental isolates were toxigenic. C. difficile inoculated onto a floor persisted there for five months. Further studies are needed to document how often floor persisted there for five months. Further studies are needed to document how often C. difficile shed by patients with antibiotic-associated colitis is acquired by other persons and whether isolation precautions are capable of limiting the organism's spread.

• OSTI ID: 5736489
• Journal Information: J. Infect. Dis.; (United States), Vol. 143:1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
BACTERIAL DISEASES
EPIDEMIOLOGY
CLOSTRIDIUM
DIARRHEA
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM DISEASES
FECES
PATIENTS
BACTERIA
BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
BIOLOGICAL WASTES
DISEASES
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
MATERIALS
MICROORGANISMS
SYMPTOMS
WASTES
550600* - Medicine
550900 - Pathology
550700 - Microbiology