Background In the pediatric population, severe Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) sometimes occurs, but most cases are asymptomatic. The asymptomatic carriage rate in pediatric populations is reportedly higher than in the adult population. It is difficult to diagnose CDI, even if C. difficile is detected in children with diarrhea. This study aimed to evaluate the positivity rate of toxigenic C. difficile in the pediatric population with diarrhea. Methods We collected and retrospectively analyzed gastrointestinal pathogen multiplex PCR results of 960 patients to estimate the positivity rate of toxigenic C. difficile in pediatric populations aged between 0 and 18 years. Results The overall rate of C. difficile toxin B positivity was 10.1% in the stool samples. The positivity rate peaked in 1-year-old infants (29/153, 19.0%) and continually decreased thereafter. The positivity rate we observed was lower than the rates described in the literature. Remarkably, no C. difficile was detected in neonates. Antibiotic usage was inversely related to the positivity rate, especially in infants 2 years of age. The odds ratio of antibiotics was 0.44 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.28–0.68; P 0.001). The presence of concomitant gastrointestinal pathogens was not associated with toxigenic C. difficile positivity. Conclusions Even though toxigenic C. difficile infection is neither an important nor a common cause of pediatric diarrhea, children can spread it to adults at risk of developing CDI. The pediatric population can act as hidden reservoirs for pathogenic strains in the community.

Even though toxigenic C. difficile infection is neither an important nor a common cause of pediatric diarrhea, children can spread it to adults at risk of developing CDI. The pediatric population can act as hidden reservoirs for pathogenic strains in the community.

Clinical Care Options (CCO) commentary from Dr. Sahil Khanna regarding guideline changes for the diagnosis and treatment of C difficile infection

Due to costs, it is difficult to screen for and diagnose patients with C difficile infections.

Clinical Care Options (CCO) commentary from Dr. Sahil Khanna regarding guideline changes for the diagnosis and treatment of C difficile infection

Due to costs, it is difficult to screen for and diagnose patients with C difficile infections.

MLAs can predict future CDI in hospitalized patients using just 6 hours of data. In clinical practice, a machine-learning based tool may support prophylactic measures, earlier diagnosis, and more timely implementation of infection control measures.

New Data Suggest Machine Learning Algorithms Can Accurately Predict C. Diff Infection in Hospitalized Patients

The Microbiome Health Index for post-Antibiotic dysbiosis was developed to improve the understanding of and manage the risks associated with antibiotic administration.

So you can start feeling better ASAP.

Current assays for Clostridioides difficile in nonhospital settings are outsourced and time-intensive, resulting in both delayed diagnosis and quarantining of infected individuals. We designed a more rapid point-of-care assay featuring a "turn-on" bioluminescent readout of a C. difficile …

DNA fingerprinting studies represent a powerful tool in surveying hypervirulent C. difficile strains in clinical settings. Resistance to vancomycin and metronidazole, as first-line antibiotics, necessitate accomplishment of proper control strategies and also prescription of tigecycline as a m …

Clostridioides difficile is the most common cause of antibiotic-associated gastrointestinal infections. Capillary-electrophoresis (CE)-PCR ribotyping is currently the gold standard for C. difficile typing but lacks discriminatory power to study transmission and outbreaks in detail. New …

The GI-PCR's results impacted the medical management of gastroenteritis for almostone-fourth of the children, and especially the prescription of appropriate antibiotic treatment before stool culture results.

Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) are leading causes of morbidity and mortality in children. Therefore, rapid pathogens identification is needed. The AGE aetiology was investigated from 2018 to 2020 in 2,066 children in Parma (Italy) by FilmArray Gastrointestinal Panel and Enterovirus-targeting RT-PCR. Pa …

The two qPCR methodologies evaluated could offer an adequate tool as part of an algorithm in the laboratory diagnosis of CDI.

Comprehensive discussion on the identification of Clostridioides difficile infection, the spectrum of disease, and overall epidemiology.

Comprehensive discussion on the identification of Clostridioides difficile infection, the spectrum of disease, and overall epidemiology.

Although the pathogenesis of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is complex and incompletely understood, it is believed that the elaboration of C. difficile toxins is necessary for disease. There are a variety of tests available for the detection of both the C. difficile organism and its toxins …

Clostridioides difficile can cause colitis and is associated with hospital acquired infections. The C. difficile infection (CDI) is due to production of toxins A and B which bind to epithelial cell surface receptors and triggers signaling pathways, leading to loss of epithelial barrier function, apo …

[patent] Genetic Analysis AS awarded an important US #patent covering a #companiondiagnostics method for optimizing #IBS interventions.A #diagnostic method to be used to determine the likelihood that a patient with IBS will respond to treatment with a low-#FODMAP diet or #FMT pic.twitter.com/gm8Kl4246g— Genetic Analysis AS (@GeneticAnalysis) October 29, 2021

Researchers used a novel, highly sensitive test to measure the amount of toxin produced by C. difficile in the stool of patients with suspected infections.

The median time to negative PCR in CDI was 9 days from treatment initiation. The PCR positivity during or after treatment may be useful for recurrence prediction; larger studies are needed to validate these results.

Background: Quantitative (q) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) cycle threshold (Ct) values represent the number of amplification cycles required for a positive PCR result and are a proxy of pathogen quantity in the tested sample. The clinical utility of Ct values remains unclear for gastrointes …

Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infection is one of the most contagious diseases associated with high morbidity and mortality rates in hospitalised patients. Accurate diagnosis can slow its spread by determining the most effective treatment. Herein, we report a novel testing platform as a proof-of-c

The extensive use of the urinalysis for screening and monitoring in diverse clinical settings usually identifies abnormal urinalysis parameters in patients with no suspicion of urinary tract infection, which in turn triggers urine cultures, inappropriate antimicrobial use, and associated harms like …

Here, we assessed the utility of a polymerase chain reaction-based open reading frame typing assay for investigating the clonality of Clostridioides difficile isolates. This assay has a higher discriminatory power than multi-locus sequence typing for molecular epidemiological analysis of C. difficil …