Prevalence of Clostridium difficile toxin in diarhoeal stool samples of patients from a tertiary hospital in North Eastern Penisular Malaysia
- Author:
Siti Asma' Hassan
;
Norlela Othman
;
Fauziah Mohd Idris
;
Zaidah Abdul Rahman
;
Nurahan Maning
;
Rosliza Abdul Rahman
;
Chan Guan Tiong
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Clostridium difficile toxin, Loose stool, Risk factors
- From:
The Medical Journal of Malaysia
2012;67(4):402-405
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
This study describes the prevalence of Clostridium difficile toxin (CDT) in loose stool samples from inpatients aged more than two years of a tertiary hospital. A total of 175 samples that had been examined were from stool samples that were sent to the Medical Microbiology & Parasitology Laboratory for various clinical indications. The toxin was detected by a commercial immunochromatograhic test, and
the patients’ demography, clinical features, treatment and
outcomes were analyzed from their medical records.
Clostridium difficile toxin was positive in 24 (13.7%) of the stool samples. Male and female were 11 (45.8 %) and 13
(54.2 %) respectively, with the majority of them aged more
than 50 years. Most were from medical wards (n=21, 87.5%),
with the rest from surgical wards (n=2, 8.3%) and intensive
care units (n=1, 3.4%). All the CDT positive patients had
history of prior antibiotic usage within 6 weeks before the
detection of the toxin. The mean duration of antibiotics
usage was 17.75 (±13.75) days, while the mean duration of
diarrhea was 5.21((± 5.85) days. Eighteen patients had
underlying medical illnesses that were diabetes mellitus,
chronic renal disease, hypertension, ischaemic heart
disease, cerebrovascular disease and malignancy; with
seven of them being CDT positive while on chemotherapy.
Stool occult blood test was positive in 15 patients whereas
presence of pus cells in the CD positive stool samples were
detected in 21 patients. The duration of hospitalization
among the patients was 27.96 (± 23.22) days.
