Occurrence of Clostridium difficile infections due to PCR ribotype 027 in Bucharest, Romania
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3855/jidc.4435Keywords:
Clostridium difficile, ribotype 027, RomaniaAbstract
Introduction: Little is known about prevailing ribotypes of Clostridium difficile infection in Romania where CDI is not a mandatory notifiable disease.
Methodology: We studied 64 non-duplicate C. difficile isolates from patients hospitalised at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Bucharest, Romania between March 2011 and March 2012.
Results: Sixty-three of the 64 C. difficile isolates produced toxins A and B whereas 44 (69%) isolates produced a binary toxin. Ribotype 027 accounted for 43 (68%) of the 63 toxigenic strains. The remaining 20 isolates belonged to ribotypes 018 (n = 9), 012 (n = 3), and, with one isolate each, 014, 031, 081, 416, 433, 500, 507 and PR03035 (new ribotype). Information on hospital mortality was available for 62 of the 64 patients; among these 62 cases, 4 (6.4%) ended fatal. Recurrence was documented for 11 (18.3%) of the 60 patients for whom this information was available. Multilocus variable-number tandem repeat analysis of the 43 isolates of ribotype 027 yielded a unique cluster for the Romanian isolates when compared to Austrian or Italian isolates.
Conclusion: Our findings sustain the hypothesis of a recent emerged outbreak of C. difficile PCR ribotype 027 infections in the area of Bucharest.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
