A search for Clostridium difficile ribotypes 027 and 078 in Brazil

Abstract

Toxigenic strains of Clostridium difficile may be disseminating. Here we prospectively screened patients with nosocomial diarrhoea in two hospitals in Brazil. To identify C. difficile polymerase chain reaction ribotypes 027/078 strains, we used high resolution melting and multiplex polymerase chain reaction. Among 116 screened patients, 11 were positive for C. difficile. The polymerase chain reaction ribotypes 027/078 strains were not identified in this study. Keywords: Multiplex-PCR, Clostridium difficile, HRM, Toxin gene profiling