[PDF] bac 2015 difficile

What is Clostridioides difficile?

Clostridioides difficile infects pigs, calves, and humans, and inhabits a natural reservoir of soil, faeces of domestic animals and humans, sewage, the human intestinal tract, and retail meat. A 2015 CDC study estimated that C. diff afflicted almost half a million Americans and caused 29,000 deaths in 2011.

How many people get C diff a year?

It’s estimated to cause almost half a million infections in the United States each year. About 1 in 6 patients who get C. diff will get it again in the subsequent 2-8 weeks. One in 11 people over age 65 diagnosed with a healthcare-associated C. diff infection die within one month.

Are C difficile cells Gram positive or negative?

Under Gram staining, C. difficile cells are Gram-positive and show optimum growth on blood agar at human body temperatures in the absence of oxygen. C. difficile is catalase - and superoxide dismutase -negative, and produces up to three types of toxins: enterotoxin A, cytotoxin B and Clostridioides difficile transferase (CDT).

Are fluoroquinolones a risk factor for C difficile colitis?

Cephalosporin and clindamycin usage have long been recognized as risk factors for C. difficile colitis, but until recently, fluoroquinolones had not been considered a significant risk. In 2000, Muto and associates noted a spike in fluoroquinolone use in a Pittsburgh hospital that predated the increase of severe CDAD cases by 9 months.