Abstract
Since 2006, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has been addressing the new CDI situation. Considering the worrying evolution of CDI in Northern America, reports of Type 027 CDI outbreaks in Belgium, The Netherlands and the UK in 2005, and the preliminary results of an EU-wide study conducted in 2005 by the ESCMID Study Group for C. difficile (ESGCD), ECDC convened a group of experts consisting of members of ESGCD, epidemiologists from healthcare-associated surveillance networks from the European Union (EU) and from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This ECDC working group recognised the emergence of a new CDI problem in some EU Member States and the potential for spread to other countries and decided to act.
Highlights
C. difficile is an anaerobic bacterium that was identified as part of the normal flora of neonates in 1935 and can be isolated from the stool of 3% of healthy adults and in at least 10% of asymptomatic hospitalised patients [7,8]
The clinical spectrum of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) ranges from mild diarrhoea to potentially life-threatening colitis that may result in toxic megacolon, colon perforation and multiorgan failure
In recent years outbreaks of CDI and an increase in the incidence of healthcare-associated CDI have been described in the United States (US), Canada and several European countries, mostly associated with a new virulent strain characterised as toxinotype III, North American pulse-field type 1 (NAP1) and PCR ribotype 027 (Type 027) [9]
Summary
C. difficile is an anaerobic bacterium that was identified as part of the normal flora of neonates in 1935 and can be isolated from the stool of 3% of healthy adults and in at least 10% of asymptomatic hospitalised patients [7,8]. In the Euroroundup article published in this issue, E Kuijper et al report that Type 027 has been isolated in 16 European countries, and has been associated with outbreaks in nine of them.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
