title: Toxin A-negative, toxin B-positive Clostridium difficile.
abstract: Clostridium difficile is a major cause of infectious diarrhea in hospitalized patients. Many pathogenic strains of Clostridium difficile produce two toxins TcdA and TcdB, both of which are pro-inflammatory and enterotoxic in human intestine. Clinically relevant toxin A-negative, toxin B-positive (A(-)B(+)) strains of Clostridium difficile that cause diarrhea and colitis in humans have been isolated with increasing frequency worldwide. This perspective describes these important toxin variant strains and highlights the need to use Clostridium difficile diagnostic methods that can detect both TcdA and TcdB.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Food Safety, School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. denise.drudy@ucd.ie
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Drudy
authors.forename: Séamus
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fanning
authors.forename: Lorraine
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kyne
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D004351:Drug Resistance; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D004768:Enterotoxins; C041348:tcdA protein, Clostridium difficile; C031815:toxB protein, Clostridium difficile