Diversity in prevalent PCR ribotypes of clinical strains of C. difficile.

In 2009, a programme of Clostridium difficile ribotyping was established in the north east. The aim of this project was to profile circulating ribotypes in the region, In all, 50 notified north east Clostridium difficile cases were ribotyped. The majority of cases occurred in patients over 70 years and in hospital in-patients. The most common ribotype identified was 027 (n = 12, 24%) and 005 (n = 8, 16%). Ribotype 078 was also detected (n = 5, 10%). Comparison with a 2009 national ribotyping study demonstrated that there were a number of ribotypes identified in the north east that were not identified during the national study and visa versa. The results of this study point to the existence of regional variation in circulating Clostridium difficile strains in Ireland. A reference facility for Ireland is urgently required to provide a central point for enhanced testing and epidemiological analysis of national and regional Clostridium difficile trends.