High frequency of antibiotic-associated diarrhea due to toxin A-negative, toxin B-positive Clostridium difficile in a hospital in Japan and risk factors for infection.
Patients hospitalized in a hospital with a high incidence of antibiotic-associated diarrhea due to toxin A-negative, toxin B-positive (A-/B+) Clostridium difficile were retrospectively investigated to determine the clinical manifestations and risk factors for infection. Of 77 Clostridium difficile isolates obtained from 77 patients during the 1-year investigation period, 30 were A-/B+ and 47 were toxin A-positive, toxin B-positive (A+/B+). By pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis, 23 of the 30 A-/B+ strains were outbreak-related, suggesting nosocomial spread of a single type of bacterium, which mainly affected patients in the wards of respiratory medicine, hematology and neurology. Using regression analysis, three factors were found to be associated with infection by A-/B+ isolates: (i) exposure to antineoplastic agents ( P=0.01, odds ratio [OR]=5.1), (ii) the use of nasal feeding tubes ( P=0.008, OR=5.2), and (iii) assignment to a certain internal medicine ward ( P=0.05, OR=3.0). Between patients with Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea caused by A-/B+ strains and those with A+/B+ strains, no statistically significant difference was found in body temperature, serum concentration of C-reactive protein, leukocyte count in whole blood, frequency of diarrhea, or type of underlying disease. These results indicate that A-/B+ strains of Clostridium difficile can cause intestinal infection in humans and they spread nosocomially in the same manner as A+/B+ strains.
Komatsu
M
M
Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Clinical Pathology, Tenri Hospital, 200 Mishima, Tenri, Nara 632-8552, Japan. microbiology@tenriyorozu-hp.or.jp
Kato
H
H
Aihara
M
M
Shimakawa
K
K
Iwasaki
M
M
Nagasaka
Y
Y
Fukuda
S
S
Matsuo
S
S
Arakawa
Y
Y
Watanabe
M
M
Iwatani
Y
Y
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000032:analysis; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006786:Hospitals, Urban; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011336:Probability; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D004768:Enterotoxins; C041348:tcdA protein, Clostridium difficile; C031815:toxB protein, Clostridium difficile