Frequency of Clostridium difficile among patients with gastrointestinal complaints

AIM In this study, the prevalence of C. difficile, from patients with gastrointestinal complaints and its association with other enteropathogen microbes were investigated. BACKGROUND Clostridium difficile is an important pathogen associated with outbreaks of pseudomembranous colitis and other intestinal disorders, such as diarrhea. PATIENTS AND METHODS Enterotoxin and cytotoxin (toxin A and toxin B) of C. difficile on the patient's stool samples were detected by a double sandwich enzyme-linked Immunosorbant assay technique using a commercial kit (Premier toxins A & B; Generic Assays, Inc., Germany). The microbial isolation and examination was done, according to the standard identification methods. RESULTS Out of 356 individuals (57.6% male and 42.4% female) the results of C. difficile were positive for 19 patients (5.3%) and negative for 337 patients (94.6%) according to the results of C. difficile antigen kit. There was no association between the existence of C. difficile toxin and microbial population or antibiotic usage. CONCLUSION This prevalence study clearly supports the hypothesis of a probable role of C.difficile in developing gastrointestinal complaints in patients with diarrhea. More studies are needed to evaluate the role of C. difficile in these diseases.