Emerging Infectious Diseases (Mar 2018)

Artificial Differences in Clostridium difficile Infection Rates Associated with Disparity in Testing

  • Mini Kamboj,
  • Jennifer Brite,
  • Anoshe Aslam,
  • Jessica Kennington,
  • N. Esther Babady,
  • David Calfee,
  • Yoko Furuya,
  • Donald Chen,
  • Michael Augenbraun,
  • Belinda Ostrowsky,
  • Gopi Patel,
  • Monica Mircescu,
  • Vivek Kak,
  • Roman Tuma,
  • Teresa A. Karre,
  • Deborah A. Fry,
  • Yola P. Duhaney,
  • Amber Moyer,
  • Denise Mitchell,
  • Sherry Cantu,
  • Candace Hsieh,
  • Nancy Warren,
  • Stacy Martin,
  • Jill Willson,
  • Jeanne Dickman,
  • Julie Knight,
  • Kim Delahanty,
  • Annemarie Flood,
  • Jennifer Harrington,
  • Deborah Korenstein,
  • Janet Eagan,
  • Kent Sepkowitz

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2403.170961
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 24, no. 3
pp. 584 – 587

Abstract

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In 2015, Clostridium difficile testing rates among 30 US community, multispecialty, and cancer hospitals were 14.0, 16.3, and 33.9/1,000 patient-days, respectively. Pooled hospital onset rates were 0.56, 0.84, and 1.57/1,000 patient-days, respectively. Higher testing rates may artificially inflate reported rates of C. difficile infection. C. difficile surveillance should consider testing frequency.

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