title: Patients with cystic fibrosis have a high carriage rate of non-toxigenic Clostridium difficile.
abstract: Thirty-year-old observations report frequent asymptomatic Clostridium difficile carriage among cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. In this case-control study, we found more carriers among CF patients than controls (47% versus 11%), but most strains carried by CF patients were non-toxigenic (77% versus 17%). Among CF patients, carriers were younger, with more severe pulmonary disease than non-carriers. Strains belonged to multiple PCR-ribotypes, suggesting that these CF patients did not acquire strains from each other.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Center for Infectious Diseases, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farid
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bakker
authors.forename: R A S
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Hoek
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Kuijper
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: van Dissel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics; D002353:Carrier State / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D003550:Cystic Fibrosis / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D021521:Ribotyping; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins
keywords: Asymptomatic carriage; CFTR mutations; Clostridium difficile; PCR ribotypes; cystic fibrosis