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Clostridium difficile infection: a new threat on our doorstep

Rhonda L Stuart and Caroline Marshall
Med J Aust 2011; 194 (7): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2011.tb02998.x
Published online: 4 April 2011

What can we do to prevent this from becoming the most common health care-associated infection in Australia?

Clostridium difficile, a gram-positive, anaerobic, spore-forming, toxigenic bacterium, is the most common infectious cause of nosocomial diarrhoea. The severity of infection varies from mild diarrhoea to pseudomembranous colitis, toxic megacolon and death.1 In the United States, C. difficile now rivals methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as the most common health care-associated infection, accounting for US$3.2 billion in excess costs annually.1,2


  • 1 Department of Infectious Diseases, Monash Medical Centre, Southern Health, Melbourne, VIC.
  • 2 Victorian Infectious Diseases Service, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, VIC.
  • 3 Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC.



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  • 7. Richards M, Knox J, Elliot B, et al. Severe infection with Clostridium difficile PCR ribotype 027 acquired in Melbourne, Australia. Med J Aust 2011; 194: 369-371. <MJA full text>
  • 8. McGregor A, Riley TV, Van Gessel H. Clostridium difficile associated disease. In: Cruikshank M, Ferguson J, editors. Reducing harm to patients from healthcare associated infection: the role of surveillance. Sydney: Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare, 2008: 171-187.
  • 9. Cohen SH, Gerding DN, Johnson S, et al. Clinical practice guidelines for Clostridium difficile infection in adults: 2010 update by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2010; 31: 431-455.
  • 10. Cheng AC, Ferguson JK, Richards MJ, et al. Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of Clostridium difficile infection. Med J Aust 2011; 194: 353-358. <MJA full text>
  • 11. Stuart RL, Marshall C, McLaws ML, et al. ASID/AICA position statement: infection control guidelines for patients with Clostridium difficile infection in health care settings. Healthcare Infect 2011. In press.

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