Contamination of hospital food with Clostridium difficile in Central Italy

Sara Primavilla; Silvana Farneti; Annalisa Petruzzelli; Ilenia Drigo; Stefania Scuota

doi:10.1016/j.anaerobe.2018.10.008

Contamination of hospital food with Clostridium difficile in Central Italy

Anaerobe. 2019 Feb:55:8-10. doi: 10.1016/j.anaerobe.2018.10.008. Epub 2018 Oct 23.

Authors

Sara Primavilla¹, Silvana Farneti², Annalisa Petruzzelli³, Ilenia Drigo⁴, Stefania Scuota²

Affiliations

¹ Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Umbria e delle Marche "Togo Rosati", via Salvemini 1, 06126, Perugia, Italy. Electronic address: s.primavilla@izsum.it.
² Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Umbria e delle Marche "Togo Rosati", via Salvemini 1, 06126, Perugia, Italy.
³ Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Umbria e delle Marche "Togo Rosati", via Canonici 140, 61100, Villa Fastiggi, Pesaro, Italy.
⁴ Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, vicolo Mazzini 4, 31020, Treviso, Italy.

PMID: 30359696
DOI: 10.1016/j.anaerobe.2018.10.008

Abstract

This study investigates the contamination of foods with Clostridium difficile in 3 hospitals of Central Italy. We used real-time PCR for tpi gene to analyse 350 food samples, including 296 cooked meals and 54 foods to be eaten raw. The molecular screening test was positive for 3 samples, but toxigenic C. difficile was isolated only in two of them. The prevalence in cooked food was 0,3% (1/296), while in uncooked processed foods was 1,9% (1/54). Data support the potential risk of food as a source of toxigenic C. difficile for hospitalized patients, but further investigations are needed.

Keywords: Clostridium difficile; Food; Hospital.

MeSH terms

Clostridioides difficile / genetics
Clostridioides difficile / isolation & purification*
Food Contamination*
Food Microbiology*
Hospitals
Humans
Italy / epidemiology
Prevalence
Triose-Phosphate Isomerase / genetics

Substances

Triose-Phosphate Isomerase