Tag Archives: Clostridium difficile

April 2021—Urinary tract infections and Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile testing are the topics of two of the modules released recently in the CAP Test Ordering Program. The Laboratory Workup for Urinary Tract Infections module became available online in January, and C. difficile Testing in October 2020 (www.cap.org/member-resources/test-ordering-program). The program is free to CAP members.

May 2017—Toxigenic Clostridium difficile can be isolated in about one-third of hospital rooms in which there is no patient with C. diff infection, and the same is seen in the community. A study published in 2014 found that 32 percent of the samples obtained from 30 houses in Houston were culture-positive for toxigenic C. diff. And C. diff was isolated from 83 percent of the houses.

May 2017—With Clostridium difficile causing a wide range of infectious manifestations, the dilemma for clinical laboratories is how to balance the different diagnostic options. “Because if you’re treating someone who is only colonized, you’re not going to benefit them—and very likely you may harm them,” said Ferric C. Fang, MD, professor of laboratory medicine, Department of Microbiology and Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, in a recent webinar hosted by CAP TODAY and sponsored by BioFire. And having a negative toxin assay is no assurance, he said, that C. difficile is not causing disease.