title: Decreasing Clostridium difficile infections by an antimicrobial stewardship program that reduces moxifloxacin use.
abstract: Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) in hospitalized patients are known to be closely related to antibiotic exposure. Although several substances can cause CDI, the risk differs between individual agents. In Vienna and other eastern parts of Austria, CDI ribotype 027 is currently highly prevalent. This ribotype has the characteristic of intrinsic moxifloxacin resistance. Therefore, we hypothesized that moxifloxacin restriction can decrease the number of CDI cases in hospitalized patients. Our antibiotic stewardship (ABS) group applied an information campaign on CDI and formal restriction of moxifloxacin in Wilhelminenspital (Vienna, Austria), a 1,000- bed tertiary care hospital. The preintervention period (period 1) was January through May 2013, and the intervention period (period 2) was June through December 2013. We recorded the defined daily doses (DDD) of moxifloxacin and the number of CDI patients/month. Moxifloxacin use was reduced from a mean (±standard error of the mean [SEM]) of 1,038±109 DDD per month (period 1) to 42±10 DDD per month (period 2) (P=0.0045). Total antibiotic use was not affected. The mean (±SEM) numbers of CDI cases in period 1 were 59±3 per month and in period 2 were 32±3 per month (46% reduction; P=0.0044). Reducing moxifloxacin use in combination with providing structured information on CDI was associated with an immediate decrease in CDI rates in this large community teaching hospital.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hospital Hygiene, Wilhelminenspital, Vienna, Austria judith.wenisch@wienkav.at.
authors.forename: Judith Maria
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Wenisch
authors.affiliation: Department of Hospital Hygiene, Wilhelminenspital, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Equiluz-Bruck
authors.affiliation: Department of Hospital Hygiene, Wilhelminenspital, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fudel
authors.affiliation: Department of Hospital Hygiene, Wilhelminenspital, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Ingun
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Reiter
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Microbiology, Wilhelminenspital, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schmid
authors.affiliation: Hospital Pharmacy, Wilhelminenspital, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Erna
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Singer
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Microbiology, Wilhelminenspital, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chott
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001317:Austria; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000187:drug effects*; D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000187:drug effects; D004363:Drug Utilization; D005260:Female; D024841:Fluoroquinolones / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D000077266:Moxifloxacin; D021521:Ribotyping / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D024841:Fluoroquinolones; D000077266:Moxifloxacin