Prevalence of Clostridium difficile infections in Prato hospital in the years 2010 2011
Clostridium difficile, a Gram positive, spore forming, anaerobic bacillus, is an important nosocomial enteric pathogen causing diarrhoea and pseudomembranous colitis. Aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of Clostridium difficile in Prato Hospital. Stool samples were collected from 1197 patients hospitalized from January 2010 to December 2011. In all the samples the common antigen GDH was investigated and only in samples positive for the antigen the presence of the A and B toxins was investigated. Our results showed that 170/1197 samples (14% were positive for the antigen, and of these 170 patients, 84 (49% were found positive also for the toxins. In addition the percentage of samples positive for toxins was higher in 2010 (8.6% than in 2011 (5.9%