Lack of Correlation between Bristol Stool Scale and Quantitative Bacterial Load in Clostridium difficile Infection
نویسندگان
چکیده
Decision to test for Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is usually made when patients have loose stools with Bristol stool score of ≥5. We aimed to assess the relationship between bacterial load of C. difficile and Bristol stool scale, as well as stool frequency in stool samples collected from patients infected with the organism. Samples were collected at baseline, during therapy, and at the end of therapy. Spearman correlation test was used to evaluate these relationships. No correlation between Bristol stool scale and fecal load of C. difficile was found for both spores and vegetative cells at all time points as counts were persistently high (P = non-significant). Weak positive correlations were found between stool frequency and fecal load of C. difficile spores and vegetative cells (r s = 0.22 and 0.24, P = 0.04 and 0.03, respectively). These findings indicate that quantitative colony counts were sufficiently high to detect C. difficile, irrespective of stool consistency, and suggest that semiformed stool should be sought for the pathogen in symptomatic patients with frequent stools.
منابع مشابه
The Bristol stool scale and its relationship to Clostridium difficile infection.
The Bristol stool form scale classifies the relative density of stool samples. In a prospective cohort study, we investigated the associations between stool density, C. difficile assay positivity, hospital-onset C. difficile infection, complications, and severity of C. difficile. We describe associations between the Bristol score, assay positivity, and clinical C. difficile infection.
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