PMID: 20099443Jan 27, 2010Paper

Nosocomial diarrhoea in adult medical patients: the role of Clostridium difficile in a North Italian acute care teaching hospital

Journal of Preventive Medicine and Hygiene
S SansoneC J Wiedermann

Abstract

The number of patients with severe Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea (CDAD) increases. Health care facilities are requested to establish rates of nosocomially acquired CDAD (N-CDAD) to understand the impact of control or prevention measures, and the burden of N-CDAD on health care resources. Aim of the single-center surveillance project was to establish local prevalence rates of N-CDAD in adult acute care medical patients. For a period of at least one year, all diarrhoeal stools from inpatients of a general internal medicine ward were tested for Clostridium difficile toxin A. Case record files were retrospectively analysed and questionnaires were completed for patients with positive stool assays who met the case definitions. During the surveillance period, 2,610 medical patients had been acutely hospitalized. Stools had been submitted to the hospital laboratory from 163 patients (6.2%) because of diarrhoea and were screened for Clostridium difficile cytotoxin. Complete data sets were available for analysis from 150 patients. Of 137 identified potential cases, 77 (56.2%) met the case definitions for nosocomial diarrhoea. Thirteen of the patients with nosocomial diarrhoea (16.9%) were detected positive by the Clostridium...Continue Reading

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