Epidemiology of community-onset Clostridium difficile infection in a community in the South of England.
OBJECTIVE
Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) has traditionally been considered a hospital acquired infection but there are a rising number of infections in the community. This study estimates the prevalence of community-onset CDI (CO-CDI), defined as onset of symptoms in a community setting and outside the hospital, and examines the risk factors for CO-CDI in 2-64 year-olds.


METHODS
A standard questionnaire was used to retrospectively obtain information on the CDI risk factors of 58 cases of CO-CDI diagnosed between 1st April 2008 and 31st March 2009 in a community in the South of England. Each case was reviewed for the presence of 'established' risk factors for CDI, i.e., age ≥65 years, in-patient hospital stay, and recent (within ≤4 weeks) receipt of broad spectrum antibiotics, and other, 'non-established' risk factors for CDI, such as exposure to antibiotics more than 4 weeks preceding symptom onset, out-patient and day-surgery hospital exposure, contact with a hospitalised patient, and travel outside of the UK.


RESULTS
Fifty-eight cases of CO-CDI were diagnosed among a total community population of 418,000, representing an estimated prevalence of CO-CDI of 1.29 per 10,000. All 58 cases were successfully contacted, representing a 100% response rate. Four cases were excluded from further analysis due to co-infection with Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter spp. Cases were more likely to be female, aged between 31 and 40 years, and present in the spring season (March-May), 2009. 46.3% (25/54) of cases had established risk factors for CDI, 20.4% (11/54) had non-established risk factors, 16.7% (9/54) had no risk factors and in the remaining 16.7% (9/54), available information was insufficient to classify by risk factor category.


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that CDI should be included in the differential diagnosis of community-onset diarrhea in patients with or without established risk factors for CDI.
Fellmeth
Gracia
G
Public Health Directorate, NHS Berkshire West, Reading, United Kingdom. gracia.fellmeth@nhs.net
Yarlagadda
Sucharita
S
Iyer
Shabnam
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000009:adverse effects; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients; D015995:Prevalence; D054328:Proton Pump Inhibitors / Q000009:adverse effects; D012307:Risk Factors; D014195:Travel; D055815:Young Adult
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D054328:Proton Pump Inhibitors