[Clostridium difficile infection in a Department of Internal Medicine. A consecutive series of 45 patients].

OBJECTIVES AND METHODS

A retrospective study of 45 patients with Clostridium difficile infection over a 4-year period in a department of Internal Medicine.

RESULTS

Mean age was 79 years; sex-ratio (F/M)=1.5; 38% of the patients had neurological or severe psychiatric disorders; 20% had a neoplastic disease. Ninety-three percent of cases had received one or more antibiotics before onset of diarrhea, prescribed mainly for a pulmonary infection. Amoxicillin clavulanic acid and cephalosporins were the most frequently used treatments, respectively in 48% and 40% of cases. For 25 patients (56%) Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea was considered as a nosocomial infection, and as community-acquired diarrhea in 20 cases (44%). Treatment included isolation of the patient as soon as bacteriological diagnosis was known and specific therapy was instituted by metronidazole or vancomycin for a mean of 18 days. The addition of Saccharomyces boulardii was used in of cases. The clinical course was rapidly favorable for 80% of patients. Five patients died with complications of severe colitis in 2 cases. Mean hospital stay was 49 days (annual mean of the department=10 days).

CONCLUSION

Clostridium difficile diarrhea concerns above all elderly patients with one or more underlying pathologies. Amoxicillin clavulanic acid and third-generation cephalosporins are the most frequently prescribed antibiotics in these cases and have the highest correlation with this infectious complication. This medical problem requires greater knowledge as it causes significant morbidity and increases the risk of prolonged hospital stays.