Clostridium difficile enteritis in a Canadian tertiary care hospital.
Nosocomial Clostridium difficile enteritis causes epidemic and endemic infection. The authors report the incidence of C difficile enteritis in a tertiary care hospital. The overall incidence rate over two years in the authors' institution was 22.2 cases per 100,000 in-patient-days; this rate appeared to decline over the study period (from 30.0 cases per 100,000 in 1990 to 11.2 at study end in 1992). Continued surveillance will determine whether this is a durable trend. An average of 5.25 cases per month occurs in the authors' hospital. A 50% increase overall was selected as the threshold for outbreak investigation. Surveillance of ward and specialty specific rates will allow clustering detection.
K S
KS
MacDonald
J
J
McLeod
L
L
Nicolle
D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004761:Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods; D008350:Manitoba / Q000453:epidemiology; D012621:Seasons