title: Simplified procedure for the routine isolation of Clostridium difficile from faeces.
abstract: The use of alcohol, at a final concentration of 50%, as a selective procedure for the isolation of Clostridium difficile was compared to a selective medium containing 250 microgram /ml of cycloserine and 10 microgram /ml of cefoxitin. Of 266 faecal samples 82 were shown to be positive by one or other method. Seventy-seven (94%) of these were detected by the selective agar (SA) and 72 (88%) by the alcohol procedure (AP). Ten samples (12%) were positive  only by SA and five samples (6%) by AP only. The AP was further modified so that all manipulations prior to incubation were performed on the open bench. Of 18 positive samples, 18 (100%) were detected by SA and 16 (89%) by AP.
mesh_terms: D000362:Agar; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000032:analysis; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D003013:Clostridium / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003470:Culture Media; D000431:Ethanol; D005243:Feces / Q000032:analysis / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D003470:Culture Media; D000431:Ethanol; D000362:Agar