title: First Australian isolation of epidemic Clostridium difficile PCR ribotype 027.
abstract: We report the first isolation in Australia of a hypervirulent epidemic strain of Clostridium difficile, PCR ribotype 027. It was isolated from a 43-year-old woman with a permanent ileostomy, who appears to have been infected while travelling in the United States. The isolate was positive for toxin A, toxin B and binary toxin, and resistant to fluoroquinolone antimicrobials, and had characteristic deletions in the tcdC gene. All diagnostic laboratories and health care facilities in Australia should now be on high alert for this organism.
authors.affiliation: Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia. triley@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
authors.forename: Thomas V
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Riley
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thean
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hool
authors.forename: Clayton L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Golledge
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004761:Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D021521:Ribotyping / Q000379:methods*; D014195:Travel; D014481:United States / Q000208:ethnology
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial