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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, June 2000, p. 2386-2388, Vol. 38, No. 6
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Epidemiology of Recurrences or Reinfections of Clostridium difficile-Associated Diarrhea

Frédéric Barbut,1,2,* Anne Richard,1 Kheira Hamadi,1 Valérie Chomette,1 Béatrice Burghoffer,1 and Jean-Claude Petit1

Department of Microbiology,1 and Infectious Control Unit,2 Hôpital Saint-Antoine, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France

Received 20 December 1999/Returned for modification 23 February 2000/Accepted 10 April 2000

Approximately 15 to 35% of patients with a first episode of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea relapse within 2 months. Between 1994 and 1997, strains from 93 hospitalized patients with C. difficile recurrences were fingerprinted by using both serotyping and PCR-ribotyping. The results showed that 48.4% of clinical recurrences were, in fact, reinfections with a different strain of C. difficile. Rates of clinical recurrences could therefore be reduced by implementing strict isolation precautions.


* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Unité d'Hygiène et de Lutte contre les Infections Nosocomiales, Hôpital Saint-Antoine, 184, rue du Fb Saint-Antoine, 75012 Paris, France. Phone: 33 1 49 28 30 11. Fax: 33 1 49 28 30 09. E-mail: frederic.barbut{at}sat.ap-hop-paris.fr.


Journal of Clinical Microbiology, June 2000, p. 2386-2388, Vol. 38, No. 6
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.



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