Clostridium difficile, belonging to ribotype 018 (RT018), is one of the most prevalent genotypes circulating in hospital settings in Italy. Here, we report the draft genome of C. difficile CD8-15 belonging to RT018, isolated from a patient with fatal C. difficile-associated infection.

Previous work indicated that Clostridium perfringens gerKA gerKC spores germinate significantly, suggesting that gerKB also has a role in C. perfringens spore germination. We now find that (i) gerKB was expressed only during sporulation, likely in the forespore; (ii) gerKB spores germinated like wild-type spores with nonnutrient germinants and with high concentrations of nutrients but more slow...

Several different nomenclatures have been applied to the Clostridium difficile toxins and their associated genes. This paper summarizes the new nomenclature that has been agreed to by the research groups currently active in the field. The revised nomenclature includes C. difficile toxins and other related large clostridial toxins produced by Clostridium sordellii and Clostridium novyi, and corr...

The incidence and severity of Clostridium difficile colitis has markedly increased in recent years. The spectrum of Clostridium difficile infection ranges from asymptomatic colonization to fulminant colitis requiring immediate surgery. Medical therapy failure and the presence of toxic megacolon dictate urgent surgical treatment with unfortunate high mortality rates (35% to 57%). We broach herei...

Botulism is a rare but serious paralytic illness caused by a nerve toxin that is produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum and sometimes by strains of Clostridium butyricum and Clostridium baratii. There are three main forms of botulism: foodborne botulism, caused by eating foods containing the botulinum toxin; wound botulism, caused by toxin produced in a wound infected with C. botulinum...

A relatively rich medium was markedly superior to a dilute medium for the isolation of anaerobic bacteria from soil. The obligate anaerobes isolated from 21 soil samples were all clostridia and the counts ranged from 2.7 X 10-2 to 3.3 X 10-6 per g. The organisms most frequently isolated were Clostridium subterminate, C. sordelii, C. sporogenes, C. indolis, C. bifermentans, C. mangenoti, and C. ...

multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis to determine clonal spread of toxin A-negative Clostridium difficile in a general hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Clin Microbiol Infect 2009;15:1080-1086. 3. van den Berg RJ, Claas EC, Oyib DH, et al. Characterization of toxin A-negative, toxin B-positive Clostridium difficile isolates from outbreaks in different countries by amplified ...

Clostridium difficile is the leading cause of infectious diarrhoea in hospitalized patients. The aim of this study was to determine the risk factors important for the development of hospital-acquired Clostridium difficile-associated disease and clinical manifestations of Clostridium difficile-associated disease. The clinical trial group included 37 hospitalized patients who were selected accord...