Important points:
– Clostridioides (formerly Clostridium) difficile, or in short ‘C.diff’, is the most common cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea.
– C. diff is an occasional constituent of the gut microbiome.
– C. difficile can produce two toxins – Toxin A and Toxin B.
– Antimicrobial therapy alters the composition of the gastrointestinal flora and thus facilitates colonization with toxigenic C. difficile if the patient is exposed to C. difficile spores. This leads to C. difficile infection (CDI).
– The combination of toxin production and the ability to produce environmentally stable spores accounts for the clinical features and transmissibility of CDI.
– A hypervirulent strain of C. difficile, ribotype 027, has emerged, which produces more toxins and more severe disease than other C. difficile strains.
– Treated with stopping offending antibiotic, giving IV fluids, oral vancomycin (+ IV Metronidazole in severe cases)