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An analysis of C.difficile Environmental Contamination During and Following Treatment for C.difficile Infection

Davies, K; Mawer, D; Walker, A; Berry, C; Planche, T; Stanley, P; Goldenberg, S; ... Wilcox, MH; + view all (2020) An analysis of C.difficile Environmental Contamination During and Following Treatment for C.difficile Infection. Open Forum Infectious Diseases , 7 (11) , Article ofaa362. /10.1093/ofid/ofaa362. Green open access

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Abstract

Background: Lower Clostridium difficile spore counts in feces from C difficile infection (CDI) patients treated with fidaxomicin versus vancomycin have been observed. We aimed to determine whether environmental contamination is lower in patients treated with fidaxomicin compared with those treated with vancomycin/metronidazole. Methods: The CDI cases were recruited at 4 UK hospitals (Leeds, Bradford, and London [2 centers]). Environmental samples (5 room sites) were taken pretreatment and at 2–3, 4–5, 6–8, and 9–12 days of treatment, end of treatment (EOT), and post-EOT. Fecal samples were collected at diagnosis and as often as produced thereafter. Swabs/feces were cultured for C difficile; percentage of C difficile-positive samples and C difficile bioburden were compared between different treatment arms at each time point. Results: Pre-EOT (n = 244), there was a significant reduction in environmental contamination (≥1 site positive) around fidaxomicin versus vancomycin/metronidazole recipients at days 4–5 (30% vs 50% recipients, P = .04) and at days 9–12 (22% vs 49%, P = .005). This trend was consistently seen at all other timepoints, but it was not statistically significant. No differences were seen between treatment groups post-EOT (n = 76). Fidaxomicin-associated fecal positivity rates and colony counts were consistently lower than those for vancomycin/metronidazole from days 4 to 5 of treatment (including post-EOT); however, the only significant difference was in positivity rate at days 9–12 (15% vs 55%, P = .03). Conclusions: There were significant reductions in C difficile recovery from both feces and the environment around fidaxomicin versus vancomycin/metronidazole recipients. Therefore, fidaxomicin treatment may lower the C difficile transmission risk by reducing excretion and environmental contamination.

Type: Article
Title: An analysis of C.difficile Environmental Contamination During and Following Treatment for C.difficile Infection
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: /10.1093/ofid/ofaa362
Publisher version: https://doi.org//10.1093/ofid/ofaa362
Language: English
Additional information: © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reproduction and distribution of the work, in any medium, provided the original work is not altered or transformed in any way, and that the work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
Keywords: Clostridium difficile infection, environmental contamination, fidaxomicin
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Inst of Clinical Trials and Methodology
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Inst of Clinical Trials and Methodology > MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10107635
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