Overview
Clostridium difficile (“C. difficile” or “C. diff”) is a type of spore-forming bacteria that produces two types of toxins. The main clinical symptoms of C. difficile infection (CDI) are watery diarrhea, fever, nausea, abdominal pain/tenderness, and loss of appetite. More serious conditions can also result such as pseudomembranous colitis (inflammation of the colon), perforations of the colon, and sepsis. It is possible to carry C. diff bacteria in your body but not show any symptoms; this is called colonization. After treatment, repeat testing is not recommended if the patient’s symptoms have resolved, since many patients remain colonized with the bacteria.
Some patients/residents may be at higher risk for developing CDI due to prolonged use of antibiotics, underlying gastrointestinal issues or prior gastrointestinal surgery, history of frequent hospitalizations, immunocompromised status, advanced age, or other underlying chronic health conditions. It is important that both the patient and the healthcare providers take the appropriate steps to help prevent an infection.
Estimated burden of CDI in healthcare facilities in the United States:
- Morbidity
- C. difficile accounts for 15-25% of all episodes of antibiotic-associated diarrhea.
- In Ohio in 2006, there were an estimated 12,600 initial and 5,600 recurrent cases of CDI. (citation)
- The infection rate of initial cases of CDI was 6.4-7.9/10,000 patient days for hospitals and 1.7-2.9/10,000 patient days for nursing homes.
- Extrapolating to the United States population, it is estimated that there are 333,000 initial and 145,000 recurrent cases of CDI nationwide each year.
- In Virginia, hospitalizations for C. difficile increased from 9 per 100,000 people in 2000 to 29 per 100,000 people in 2010. (citation)
- In 2010 in Virginia:
- The rate of hospitalization with C. difficile was more than twice as high for people 85 years or older than for people 65 to 84 years of age.
- Compared to men, C. difficile hospitalization rates were 30% higher for women.
- In 2009 in Virginia hospitals, patients diagnosed with C. difficile stayed an average of 13.2 days, almost three times as long as the average stay of all other patients (4.6 days). (citation)
- Mortality
- CDI has been associated with an attributable mortality rate of 6.9% at 30 days after diagnosis and 16.7% at 1 year. (citation)
- Costs
- Nationally, the estimated cost per infection ranges from $6,000 - $9,000 and the estimated total cost per year ranges from $1 billion - $1.6 billion. (citation)
- In 2009 in Virginia, the total hospital cost for patients with C. difficile was over $157 million. The average hospital cost for patients with C. difficile was nearly three times higher than patients without C. difficile ($23,190 vs. $8,860). (citation)
In January 2013, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin requiring acute care hospitals participating in their Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) to report laboratory-identified C. difficile infections facility-wide using the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). These data will be made publicly available on Hospital Compare.
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Prevention Strategies for Healthcare Providers
To prevent CDI, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers should follow CDC infection prevention guidelines including:
- Use antibiotics judiciously.
- Implement contact precautions for patients/residents with known or suspected CDI:
- Place patients/residents with CDI in private rooms. If private rooms are not available, patients/residents can be placed in rooms (cohorted) with other persons with CDI.
- Use gloves when entering the room of a patient/resident with CDI and during patient/resident care.
- Perform hand hygiene after removing gloves.
- Because alcohol does not kill C. difficile spores, use of soap and water is more efficacious than alcohol-based hand rubs. However, early experimental data suggest that, even using soap and water, the removal of C. difficile spores is more challenging than the removal or inactivation of other common pathogens.
- Preventing contamination of the hands via glove use remains the cornerstone for preventing C. difficile transmission via the hands of healthcare workers.
- If your institution experiences an outbreak, consider using only soap and water for hand hygiene when caring for patients/residents with CDI.
- Use gowns when entering the room of a patient/resident with CDI and during patient/resident care.
- Use dedicated medical equipment or perform cleaning and disinfection of any shared medical equipment.
- Continue these precautions until diarrhea ceases.
- Because patients/residents with CDI continue to shed the bacteria for a number of days after diarrhea stops, some facilities routinely continue isolation for either several days beyond symptom resolution or until discharge, depending upon the type of setting and average length of stay.
- Implement an environmental cleaning and disinfection strategy:
- Ensure adequate cleaning and disinfection of environmental surfaces and reusable devices, especially items likely to be contaminated with feces and surfaces that are touched frequently.
- Consider using an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered disinfectant with a sporicidal claim for environmental surface disinfection after cleaning in accordance with label instructions. Generic sources of hypochlorite (e.g., household chlorine bleach) also may be appropriately diluted and used.
- Note: Standard EPA-registered hospital disinfectants are not effective against Clostridium difficile spores.
- Hypochlorite-based disinfectants may be most effective in preventing C. difficile transmission in units with high endemic rates of C. difficile infection.
Clinical Practice Guidelines for Clostridium difficile Infection in Adults: 2010 Update by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA)
Clostridium difficile Infection in Adults and Children (2013) – a policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics
SHEA/IDSA Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals - C. difficile
CDC CDI Prevention Collaborative Toolkit – contains background on epidemiology of CDI as well as core and supplemental prevention strategies
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Tools and Resources
Antibiotic stewardship webpage
APIC Guide to Preventing Clostridium difficile Infections, 2013
CDC Commentary: Testing for Clostridium difficile Infection
CDC Vital Signs Report: Making Health Care Safer – Reducing Clostridium difficile Infection (March 2012) - latest findings of progress on C. difficile prevention in different healthcare settings
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) – March 6, 2012 - more detailed information on methodology of Vital Signs report
C. difficile fact sheet for assisted living facilities and nursing homes
Clostridium difficile in Long-Term–Care Facilities for the Elderly, 2002 (SHEA Position Paper)
Clostridium difficile Prevention: Dodging a “One-Two Punch” - educational flyer for consumers that contains C. difficile facts and prevention strategies. Developed by VHI.
Drug Resistance and Antibiotic Stewardship fact sheet
General C. difficile fact sheet
NHSN Multidrug-resistant Organism and Clostridium difficile Infection (MDRO/CDI) Module – protocol and instructions, training, and forms for performing infection surveillance, laboratory-identified (LabID) event reporting, prevention process and active surveillance testing outcome measures. Prevention process measures include hand hygiene and gown and gloves use adherence.
SHEA Patient Education Guide (C. diff) – fact sheet that educates patients and their families about 7 types of HAIs (including C. diff) and how to work with healthcare professionals to prevent them.
For more patient resources, please see the Consumer and Public Information page or go to the CDC C. difficile website.
