title: The Antimicrobial Stewardship Approach to Combating Clostridium Difficile.
abstract: Clostridium difficile remains a major public health threat and continues to contribute to excess morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs. Antimicrobial stewardship programs have demonstrated success in combating C. difficile, primarily through antibiotic restrictive strategies. As the incidence and prevalence of C. difficile associate disease continues to increase both in the hospital and community setting, additional stewardship approaches are needed. This manuscript reviews stewardship interventions that have been successful against C. difficile associated disease and proposes future tactics that antimicrobial stewardship programs may employ to develop a more global approach to combat this difficult pathogen.
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA. wenzler@uic.edu.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wenzler
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA. smulug2@uic.edu.
authors.forename: Surafel G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Mulugeta
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA. danziger@uic.edu.|College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA. danziger@uic.edu.
authors.forename: Larry H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Danziger
keywords: Clostridium difficile; antimicrobial stewardship; diarrhea; infection control; rapid diagnostics; restriction; treatment