title: On the difficulties of isolating Clostridium difficile from hospital environments.
abstract: Spores of Clostridium difficile were deposited on to a stainless steel surface and subsequently exposed to a chlorine-releasing disinfectant (dichloroisocyanurate). Recovery of the spores was carried out using RODAC plates containing a variety of selective and non-selective agars. The non-selective agar media yielded higher recoveries of both control and chlorine-stressed spores. Our results show that the antibiotics used in selective media imposed an additional stress on both disinfectant-treated and untreated spores resulting in considerably reduced recoveries. This could lead to a serious underestimate of the extent of environmental contamination by this organism.
authors: Department of Chemical Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK. d.j.malik@lboro.ac.uk
authors: D J
authors: DJ
authors: Malik
authors: K V
authors: KV
authors: Patel
authors: M R J
authors: MR
authors: Clokie
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Shama
mesh_terms: D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003470:Culture Media / Q000737:chemistry*; D004202:Disinfectants / Q000494:pharmacology; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014227:Triazines / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D004202:Disinfectants; D014227:Triazines; C011765:troclosene