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The Journal of the Japanese Society for Clinical Microbiology |
Biblioraphy Information
| ArticleTitle |
Evaluation of Clostridium difficile-related diagnostic tests |
| Language |
J |
| AuthorList |
Tokuyoshi Maruyama1), Hitoshi Yoshimura2), Yoshitaka Morishita3), Tsutomu Nobori4) |
| Affiliation |
1) Division of Blood Transfusion, Mie University Hospital
2) Department of Internal Medicine, Mie Prefectural Shima Hospital
3) Central Clinical Laboratories, Mie University Hospital
4) Department of Laboratory Medicine, Mie University School of Medicine |
| Publication |
J.J.C.M.: 14 (2), 99-103, 2004 |
| Received |
February 3, 2004 |
| Accepted |
June 16, 2004 |
| Abstract |
Patients positive for Clostridium difficile toxin A can be asymptomatic. In this study, we evaluated the clinical usefulness of C. difficile-related diagnostic tests in 128 clinical stool specimens. Out of 85 formed stools, 17 (20.0%) were positive for toxin A. Among 30 cases that were serially tested for toxin A, 11 (36.7%) were positive for toxin A for more than 7 days following vancomycin treatment. Fecal leukocytes were present in 24 (85.7%) of 28 toxin-A-positive diarrhetic stools, and in 1 (5.9%) of 17 toxin-A-positive formed stools. All 23 clinical isolates cultured from stools presenting various specimen attributes tested positive in assays for the toxin A antigen and gene. However, both toxin A and fecal leukocytes were absent in 13 (56.5%) of 23 stool specimens. Seven (53.8%) of these 13 stools were formed in specimen attribute. Detection of fecal leukocytes may be clinically useful in avoiding falsepositive toxin A results. A culture test was found to be useful in the detection of asymptomatic carriers. |
| Keywords |
Clostridium difficile |
|
