Prevalence of Clostridium difficile infection in acute care hospitals, long-term care facilities, and outpatient clinics: Is Clostridium difficile infection underdiagnosed in long-term care facility patients?

Amar Krishna; Amina Pervaiz; Paul Lephart; Noor Tarabishy; Swapna Varakantam; Aditya Kotecha; Reda A Awali; Keith S Kaye; Teena Chopra

doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2017.04.288

Prevalence of Clostridium difficile infection in acute care hospitals, long-term care facilities, and outpatient clinics: Is Clostridium difficile infection underdiagnosed in long-term care facility patients?

Am J Infect Control. 2017 Oct 1;45(10):1157-1159. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2017.04.288.

Authors

Amar Krishna¹, Amina Pervaiz², Paul Lephart², Noor Tarabishy², Swapna Varakantam², Aditya Kotecha², Reda A Awali², Keith S Kaye², Teena Chopra²

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Disease, Detroit Medical Center and Wayne State University, Detroit, MI. Electronic address: akrishn@med.wayne.edu.
² Division of Infectious Disease, Detroit Medical Center and Wayne State University, Detroit, MI.

PMID: 28602273
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2017.04.288

Abstract

Clostridium difficile infection is a common cause of diarrhea in long-term care facility (LTCF) patients. The high prevalence of C difficile infection in LTCFs noted in our study calls for a critical need to educate LTCF staff to send diarrheal stool for C difficile testing to identify more cases and prevent transmission.

Keywords: Antibiotic-associated diarrhea; Healthcare associated infection; Loop-mediated isothermal amplification.

MeSH terms

Ambulatory Care Facilities*
Clostridium Infections / epidemiology*
Diarrhea / epidemiology*
Hospitals*
Humans
Long-Term Care*
Prevalence
Retrospective Studies