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Zimbabwe
 
Prevalence of Clostridium difficile in the environment in a rural community in Zimbabwe
 
 
Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Published:  May  11 2006
Posted:  May  16 2006
 
By  Simango C.
 
Abstract

Clostridium difficile has been shown to be a nosocomial pathogen associated with diarrhoea and pseudomembranous colitis in hospitalised patients, but very little is known about its prevalence outside the hospital environment. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of C. difficile in faeces of domestic animals, soil and drinking water in a rural community. Water, animal faeces and soil were collected from homesteads in a rural community and the samples were cultured for C. difficile.Clostridium difficile isolates that produced toxins A or B were tested for their susceptibility to antimicrobial drugs. Clostridium difficile was isolated from 37.0% of 146 soil samples, 17.4% of 115 chicken faeces samples, 6.0% of 234 water samples and 4.3% of 161 faecal samples of other animals. Some of the C. difficile isolates from chickens (55.0%), soil (66.7%) and water (14.3%) were toxigenic. All toxigenic isolates were susceptible to metronidazole, vancomycin, doxycycline, chloramphenicol and tetracycline and all were resistant to cefotaxime, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin and nalidixic acid. The results of the present study suggest that chickens kept by villagers are an important reservoir of C. difficile, which may act as a source of human infection.

PMID: 16698054

Author contact
Simango C
Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences
College of Health Sciences
University of Zimbabwe
P.O. Box A178
Avondale, Harare, Zimbabwe

Offline source: Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2006 May 11; [Epub ahead of print]

Online source: Abstract
 
 
Keywords: Zimbabwe, Clostridium
 
 
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