Open AccessUse of culture- and ELISA-based toxin assay for detecting Clostridium difficile, a neglected pathogen: A single-center study from a tertiary care setting
Author(s) -
Sujata Lall,
Gita Nataraj,
Preeti Mehta
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of laboratory physicians
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 0974-7826
pISSN - 0974-2727
DOI - 10.4103/jlp.jlp_157_16
Subject(s) - clostridium difficile , microbiology and biotechnology , antibiotic associated diarrhea , diarrhea , clostridium difficile toxin a , clostridium difficile toxin b , antibiotics , clostridium , pathogen , biology , toxin , anaerobic bacteria , agar , immunoassay , medicine , bacteria , immunology , genetics , antibody
Clostridium difficile is a Gram-positive spore-bearing anaerobic bacillus increasingly associated with both community- and hospital-acquired colitis and diarrhea. It is the most common identifiable bacterial cause of healthcare-associated diarrhea associated with antibiotic use and one of the most common anaerobic infections. The diagnosis of C. difficile infection includes detection of toxin A/B in stool specimens by direct enzyme immunoassay, culture of pathogen from the stool specimens using a selective agar Cycloserine-Cefoxitin fructose agar (CCFA), tissue culture assay, and detection of glutamate dehydrogenase an enzyme produced by C. difficile. With few reports from India on this disease, the present study was planned to throw more light on the prevalence and utility of laboratory diagnostic methods for C. difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD).