Abstract
Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD) recurs in 15-20% of patients, resulting in decreased quality of life, prolongation of hospitalization, and increased medical expenses. CDAD recurred in 9 of the 29 patients treated for CDAD at our hospital between April 2005 and July 2005 (and followed until September 2005). This study compared clinical data and the Toxin A level measured using a VIDAS Assay kit CDA2 between the 9 patients with recurrent CDAD and the 20 patients with a single episode to investigate the possibility of predicting the recurrence of CDAD. No significant differences in clinical data were noted between the single-episode and recurrence groups, but the Toxin A level measured at the time of diagnosis was significantly higher in the recurrence group than in the single-episode group (20.9±2.2 vs. 8.3±2.2, p<0.05). However, following adjustment of the bacterial suspension to McFarland 3.0 to normalize the bacterial count, there was no significant difference between the two groups (3.0±1.0 vs. 2.8±1.8), suggesting that the difference in bacterial count affected recurrence. These findings suggest that measurement of Toxin A using a VIDAS Assay kit CDA2 may be useful for prediction of the recurrence of CDAD, so allowing appropriate preventive treatment.
