PREVALENCE OF CLOSTRIDIUM DIFFICILE INFECTION IN PATIENTS EXPOSED TO ANTIBIOTICS IN PREVIOUS 6 WEEKS AND ADMITTED WITH DIARRHEA IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL.

Abstract

Clostridium difficile is a signicant cause of morbidity and mortality among hospitalized patients, and the incidence of C. difficile infection (CDI) has dramatically increased due to frequent usage of broadspectrum antibiotics in these patients. The wide variation in the spectrum of clinical manifestations of CDI makes the diagnosis difcult. Further, the wide range of variability in the sensitivity and specicity of the various diagnostic methods and the high cost of these methods add to the difculty. It is a spore-forming gram-positive anaerobic organism. Until the 1970s, it was considered as a microorganism that is rarely present in normal intestinal microbiota. But it was not until 1978 that C. difcile was identied as a cause of [1] pseudomembranous colitis . Since then, C. difcile has been recognized as a common cause of antibiotic associated diarrhoea and nosocomial diarrhoea. The incidence of C. difcile infection (CDI) varies from place to place. In India, it is known to infect up to 25 % of [2] people taking antibiotics