title: Primary prevention of Clostridium difficile infections - how difficult can it be?
abstract: C. difficile infections (CDI) have been a challenging disease to treat, much less to prevent, for decades. Efforts for primary prevention have mainly focused on improving infection control practices, but CDI outbreaks continue to plague healthcare facilities. Areas covered: A literature search from 1970-December 2016 found 13 facility-level and 2 patient-level strategies that were evidence-based. The aim of this manuscript is to assess the current state of the literature on primary prevention of CDI and offer insights into which strategies may be more effective. Expert commentary: The strongest evidence for primary prevention is based on multi-faceted infection control bundles, while there is promising moderate evidence involving facility-wide use of specific probiotics. Moderate-level evidence was found for patient-level use of specific probiotics and low level evidence for vaccines. Future suggestions include use of consistent outcome metrics, measurements of implementation compliance and program sustainability.
authors.affiliation: a Medicinal Chemistry , University of Washington, Puget Sound VA HCS , Seattle , WA , USA.
authors.forename: Lynne V
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: McFarland
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000009:adverse effects; D000073602:Antimicrobial Stewardship; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000379:methods*; D019936:Probiotics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012307:Risk Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines
keywords: Infection control; antibiotic stewardship; antibiotics; clostridium difficile; healthcare costs; nosocomial; primary prevention; probiotics; vaccines