title: Clostridium difficile in antibiotic associated pediatric diarrhea.
abstract: A case control study was carried out at the medical wards of Dr. B.C. Roy Memorial Hospital for Children, Calcutta, between January and September 1989. One hundred eleven hospitalized children up to the age of 5 years, receiving antibiotics for different medical problems, developed antibiotic associated diarrhea. Isolation of Clostridium difficile as sole pathogen was very low (3.6%) from these patients. Fecal samples of 111 case matched control children were also screened for C.difficile. Only 2.7% fecal samples of control children were positive for C.difficile. All the strains of C.difficile isolated from antibiotic associated diarrhea cases showed neutralisable cytotoxin in in vitro test. In contrast none of the strains isolated from control children showed cytotoxicity. This study suggests that C.difficile is not an important pathogen related to antibiotic associated diarrhea in children at this hospital.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Disease, Beliaghata, Calcutta.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dutta
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Niyogi
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Mitra
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rasaily
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Bhattacharya
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chakraborty
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mitra
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000009:adverse effects; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003092:Colitis / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology; D003906:Developing Countries; D003968:Diarrhea, Infantile / Q000209:etiology*; D004761:Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents