title: The diagnosis of Clostridium difficile-associated disease.
abstract: There are well-documented risk factors associated with the development of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea; knowledge of these and of the typical signs and symptoms should alert the clinician to the possibility of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea (CDAD). It is therefore common practice in large general hospitals for clinicians to request, and for laboratories to include, investigations for C. difficile on in-patient stool specimens to confirm a diagnosis of CDAD. The laboratory methods used to investigate for CDAD are divided into two main categories: those that are aimed at detecting the presence of C. difficile or its products, and those that detect either of its two major toxins, A (enterotoxin) and B (cytotoxin). Within each of these broad strategies there are various rationales which are reviewed here.
authors.affiliation: Anaerobe Reference Unit, Public Health Laboratory, University Hospital of Wales, Heath Park, Cardiff, UK.
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Brazier
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016360:Clostridioides difficile; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology*; D004761:Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans