Chamchod Farida, Palittapongarnpim Prasit
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Theor Biol Med Model. 2019 Jan 31;16(1):2. doi: 10.1186/s12976-019-0098-0.
Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection is an important cause of healthcare-associated diarrhea. Several factors such as admission of colonized patients, levels of serum antibodies in patients, and control strategies may involve in determining the prevalence and the persistence of C. difficile in a hospital unit.
We develop mathematical models based on deterministic and stochastic frameworks to investigate the effects of control strategies for colonized and symptomatic patients and admissions of colonized and symptomatic patients on the prevalence and the persistence of C. difficile.
Our findings suggest that control strategies and admissions of colonized and symptomatic patients play important roles in determining the prevalence and the persistence of C. difficile. Improving control of C. difficile in colonized and symptomatic patients may generally help reduce the prevalence and the persistence of C. difficile. However, if admission rates of colonized and symptomatic patients are high, the prevalence of C. difficile may remain high in a patient population even though strict control policies are applied.
Control strategies and admissions of colonized and symptomatic patients are important determinants of the prevalence and the persistence of C. difficile.
艰难梭菌感染是医疗相关腹泻的一个重要原因。若干因素，如定植患者的入院情况、患者血清抗体水平以及控制策略，可能与医院病房中艰难梭菌的流行率和持续存在情况有关。
我们基于确定性和随机性框架开发数学模型，以研究针对定植和有症状患者的控制策略以及定植和有症状患者的入院情况对艰难梭菌流行率和持续存在情况的影响。
我们的研究结果表明，控制策略以及定植和有症状患者的入院情况在决定艰难梭菌的流行率和持续存在情况方面发挥着重要作用。改善对定植和有症状患者的艰难梭菌控制通常可能有助于降低艰难梭菌的流行率和持续存在情况。然而，如果定植和有症状患者的入院率很高，即使实施了严格的控制政策，患者群体中艰难梭菌的流行率可能仍然很高。
控制策略以及定植和有症状患者的入院情况是艰难梭菌流行率和持续存在情况的重要决定因素。
