[Implantation of Clostridium difficile in infants during antibiotherapy].

In the adults, it is known that antibiotics allow colonization by C. difficile and its multiplication, in infants this facts is discussed. To study the influence of antibiotic treatment on the colonization of infants' intestinal tract by C. difficile, we searched this bacteria twice a week in hospitalized newborns since their birth. The population was divided in 2 groups: one never received any antibiotic, the other was treated with beta-lactams. C. difficile was isolated on appropriated selective media, and identified by biochemical and enzymatic characters. The antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolated strains was determined by broth dilution method and by broth disk-elution method. In the 2 groups the results did not significantly differ: the colonization rates are 41% in the treated group and 46% in the untreated one. The susceptibility of the strains to the tested antibiotics was similar in the 2 groups. In the environmental and dietetic conditions of our study, the infants' colonization by C. difficile seems to be independent of the antibiotic treatment.