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Incidence and significance ofclostridium difficile in hospitalized cancer patients

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Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the incidence and clinical significance ofClostridium difficile in patients in our cancer center. Over a period of seven consecutive months, 557 stools samples obtained from 156 hospitalized cancer patients (37 leukemic patients receiving oral antimicrobial prophylaxis and 119 patients from whom a stool sample was sent to the laboratory) were analyzed for the presence ofClostridium difficile. Clostridium difficile and/or its toxin was recovered from 13 (35 %) of the 37 patients receiving oral antimicrobial prophylaxis, and from 15 (12 %) of the other 119 patients (p<0.05). Isolation ofClostridium difficile was associated with diarrhoea in 13 (46 %) of 28 patients but specific treatment was initiated only in 7 (25 %) of the 28 patients in whomClostridium difficile was isolated. The wide distribution of the serotypes identified in our patients does not suggest an epidemic situation in our hospital.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Service de Médecine Interne et Laboratoire d'Investigation Clinique Henri Tagnon, Institut Jules Bordet, Centre des Tumeurs de l'Université Libre de Bruxelles, rue Héger Bordet 1, B-1000, Brussels, Belgium

    M. Gérard, N. Defresne, D. Daneau, P. Van der Auwera, A. M. Bourguignon & F. Meunier

  2. Unité de Microbiologie, Université Catholique de Louvain, B-1200, Brussels, Belgium

    M. Delmée

Authors
  1. M. Gérard
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  2. N. Defresne
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  3. D. Daneau
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  4. P. Van der Auwera
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  5. M. Delmée
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  6. A. M. Bourguignon
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  7. F. Meunier
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Gérard, M., Defresne, N., Daneau, D. et al. Incidence and significance ofclostridium difficile in hospitalized cancer patients. Eur. J. Clin. Microbiol. Infect. Dis. 7, 274–278 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01963101

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