TY - JOUR AU - Moukhaiber, Romy AU - Araj, George F AU - Kissoyan, Kohar Annie B AU - Cheaito, Katia A AU - Matar, Ghassan M PY - 2015/07/30 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Prevalence of Clostridium difficile toxinotypes in infected patients at a tertiary care center in Lebanon JF - The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries JA - J Infect Dev Ctries VL - 9 IS - 07 SE - Original Articles DO - 10.3855/jidc.6585 UR - https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/26230123 SP - 732-735 AB - <p class="SmallText">Introduction: Due to the increase in the incidence of <em>Clostridium difficile </em>associated diseases at a tertiary care center in Lebanon, this study was undertaken to determine the prevalent <em>C. difficile</em> toxinotypes.</p> <p class="SmallText">Methodology: The immunocard method was used to test for toxins A and B in 88 collected stool samples, followed with API 20A to confirm for <em>C. difficile</em>. PCR amplification of the triose phosphate isomerase (<em>tpi</em>) gene, the toxin encoding genes <em>tcd</em>A, and <em>tcd</em>B, followed by toxinotyping, were performed on recovered isolates and stool specimens.</p> <p class="SmallText">Results: Out of the 88 stool samples obtained, 30<em> </em>(65.2%)<em> </em>were Immunocard positive,<em> </em>culture and or <em>tpi </em>positive for<em> C. difficile.</em> Of the 30 isolates, 4 were PCR negative for the <em>tcd</em>A and <em>tcd</em>B genes (A-B-), and 26 were PCR positive for the <em>tcd</em>A and / or <em>tcd</em>B genes with 4 being A+B+, 1 A+B-, and 21 A-B+. The results of toxinotyping showed that 2 isolates belonged to toxinotype 0, 4 to toxinotype XI, 2 to toxinotype XII, 1 to toxinotype XVI, 1(A+B-) and twenty (A-B+) designated as toxinotype 0-like.<strong> </strong><em>C. difficile </em>was detected in 65.2% of patients' stools with prevalence of toxinotype 0-like.</p> <p class="SmallText">Conclusion: Identification of toxinotypes of <em>C. difficile </em>is important to determine the virulence potential of strains and control their spread.</p> ER -