Molecular detection of Clostridium difficile on inert surfaces from a Costa Rican hospital during and after an outbreak
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| Autores: | , , |
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| Formato: | artículo original |
| Fecha de Publicación: | 2016 |
| Descripción: | Background: Hospital transmission of Clostridium difficile is fostered by contamination of surfaces and medical equipment with spores highly resistant to disinfectants and regular cleaning procedures. Despite the outbreaks and fatalities that C difficile causes, its epidemiology has not been studied in hospitals from middle- and low-income countries. To tackle this knowledge gap, the detection frequency of C difficile DNA on inert surfaces of a major Costa Rican hospital during and after an outbreak was compared. Methods: We used a presence-absence real-time polymerase chain reaction to detect a fragment of the tpi gene of C difficile on 21 surface samples collected during an outbreak and 54 surface samples taken 2 years later at the same hospital. Results: C difficile DNA was detected in 40% of the 75 environmental samples analyzed. Whereas 71% of the samples collected during the outbreak were positive, only 28% of the samples obtained 2 years after the outbreak gave the same result. This 2.5× ratio was maintained when the comparison was restricted to the wards that were sampled both during and after the outbreak (72% vs 35%, P = .016). Conclusions: Our results show that environmental surfaces in the hospital analyzed are continuously being contaminated with C difficile DNA and that their level of contamination is higher during an outbreak than after it |
| País: | Kérwá |
| Institución: | Universidad de Costa Rica |
| Repositorio: | Kérwá |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:kerwa.ucr.ac.cr:10669/30369 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196655316308252 https://hdl.handle.net/10669/30369 |
| Palabra clave: | Clostridium difficile Outbreak RT-PCR Hospital Surfaces |