Application of whole-cell DNA restriction endonuclease profiles to the epidemiology of Clostridium difficile-induced diarrhea.

Two patients in one hospital room acquired pseudomembranous colitis, one shortly after the other. The DNA restriction patterns of isolates from the patients and of four isolates from the environment were indistinguishable from one another and differed from isolates of other patients. Restriction endonuclease digest analysis appears to be a useful method for studying the epidemiology of Clostridium difficile.