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Distinguishing Clostridium difficile Recurrence From Reinfection: Independent Validation of Current Recommendations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2017

Ana Durovic ,
Andreas F. Widmer ,
Reno Frei  and
Sarah Tschudin-Sutter
Ana Durovic
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Andreas F. Widmer
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Reno Frei
Affiliation:
Division of Clinical Microbiology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Sarah Tschudin-Sutter*
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
*
Address correspondence to Sarah Tschudin-Sutter, MD, MSc, Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Basel, Petersgraben 4, CH-4031 Basel, Switzerland ([email protected]).
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Abstract

OBJECTIVE

Distinguishing recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), defined as CDI caused by the same genotype, from reinfection with a different genotype, has important implications for surveillance and clinical trials investigating treatment effectiveness. We validated the proposed 8-week period for distinguishing “same genotype CDI” from “different genotype CDI,” and we aimed to identify clinical variables with distinctiveness to propose an improved definition.

METHODS

From January 2004 to December 2013, a cohort of all inpatients with CDI at the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, was established, and respective strains were collected. In patients with a second episode of CDI, both strains were compared using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) ribotyping. The standard definition of recurrence (within 8 weeks after initial diagnosis) was evaluated for its performance to predict CDI caused by the same genotype.

RESULTS

Among 750 patients with CDI, 130 (17.3%) were diagnosed with recurrence or reinfection. Strains from both episodes were available from 106 patients. Identical strains were identified in 36 patients with recurrence (36 of 47) and 27 patients with reinfection (27 of 59). Sensitivity, specificity, and negative and positive predictive values of the standard definition were 56%, 74%, 53%, and 76%, respectively. An extended period of 20 weeks resulted in the best match for both sensitivity and specificity (83% and 58%, respectively), while none of the clinical characteristics revealed independent distinctive power.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results challenge the utility of the 8-week cutoff for distinguishing recurrent CDI from reinfection. An extended period of 20 weeks may result in improved overall performance characteristics, but this finding requires external validation.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:891–896

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 38 , Issue 8 , August 2017 , pp. 891 - 896
Copyright
© 2017 by The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. All rights reserved 

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Footnotes

PREVIOUS PRESENTATION. A summary of this article was presented orally at the 26th ECCMID European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on April 11, 2016.

References

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