On the difficulties of isolating Clostridium difficile from hospital environments

Summary Spores of Clostridium difficile were deposited on to a stainless steel surface and subsequently exposed to a chlorine-releasing disinfectant (dichloroisocyanurate). Recovery of the spores was carried out using RODAC plates containing a variety of selective and non-selective agars. The non-se...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of hospital infection 2013-06, Vol.84 (2), p.181-183
Main Authors: Malik, D.J, Patel, K.V, Clokie, M.R.J, Shama, G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agar
Bacterial diseases
Bacterial diseases of the digestive system and abdomen
Bacteriological Techniques - methods
Biological and medical sciences
Clostridium difficile
Clostridium difficile - drug effects
Clostridium difficile - isolation & purification
Culture Media - chemistry
Disinfectants - pharmacology
Disinfection
Environmental Microbiology
Environmental sampling
Epidemiology. Vaccinations
Gastroenterology. Liver. Pancreas. Abdomen
General aspects
Hospitals
Human bacterial diseases
Humans
Infectious Disease
Infectious diseases
Medical sciences
Other diseases. Semiology
Selective agars
Spores, Bacterial - drug effects
Spores, Bacterial - isolation & purification
Stomach. Duodenum. Small intestine. Colon. Rectum. Anus
Triazines - pharmacology
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Summary:Summary Spores of Clostridium difficile were deposited on to a stainless steel surface and subsequently exposed to a chlorine-releasing disinfectant (dichloroisocyanurate). Recovery of the spores was carried out using RODAC plates containing a variety of selective and non-selective agars. The non-selective agar media yielded higher recoveries of both control and chlorine-stressed spores. Our results show that the antibiotics used in selective media imposed an additional stress on both disinfectant-treated and untreated spores resulting in considerably reduced recoveries. This could lead to a serious underestimate of the extent of environmental contamination by this organism.
ISSN:0195-6701
1532-2939
DOI:10.1016/j.jhin.2013.02.020