Title
Epidemiology of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea in a Peruvian tertiary care hospital
Date Issued
01 January 2007
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Publisher(s)
American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Abstract
The prevalence, incidence, and epidemiologic factors of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD) in a Peruvian hospital were studied. We conducted a cross-sectional study in patients > 14 years of age from medical/surgical wards of the Cayetano Heredia National Hospital (Lima, Peru) from September 2005 to May 2006. CDAD was defined in a case of nosocomial diarrhea when C. difficile toxin A and/or toxin B was detected by enzyme immune assay (EIA) in stools. A total of 4,264 patients were admitted, with 156 (3.7%) developing nosocomial diarrhea. Fifty-five of 156 (35.2%) cases of nosocomial diarrhea were diagnosed as CDAD. The overall incidence per 1,000 admissions was 12.9. Multivariate analysis showed that use of diapers (OR, 3.54; 95% CI, 1.71-7.34; P = 0.001) and presence of another patient with CDAD housed in the same room (OR, 2.97; 95% CI, 1.14-7.76; P = 0.026) were significantly associated with CDAD. Hospital transmission of C. difficile commonly occurred, supporting infection-appropriate measures directed toward the reduction of CDAD in low-resource settings. Copyright © 2007 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
Start page
802
End page
805
Volume
77
Issue
5
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Salud pública, Salud ambiental
Epidemiología
Políticas de salud, Servicios de salud
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-42949099550
PubMed ID
Source
American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
ISSN of the container
0002-9637
Sponsor(s)
Fogarty International Center D43TW006569 FIC
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus