Research in Medicine

Abstract Background: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) has been a major growing problem in hospitals in recent years. Detection of the source of Clostridium difficile strains is of importance for the control of the nosocomial spread of this microorganism. This study was done to identify C.difficile isolates by polymerase chain reaction, (PCR), ribotyping. Materials and methods: The descriptive study was done during a period of 12 month. Seventeen C.difficile isolates were collected from patients hospitalized with suspected CDI in different wards of a general hospital. All samples were treated with alcohol and yeast extract broth. The treated samples were cultured on a selective cycloserine cefoxitin fructose agar (CCFA) supplemented with 5% sheep blood and incubated in anaerobic conditions, at 37 °C for 5 days. Prevalence and confidence intervals were calculated. Cdd-3, tcdA and tcdB genes were identified using PCR assay. PCR ribotyping was performed on C.difficile isolates. Results: Out of 108 isolates 17(15.7%) were C.difficile. The prevalence of A+B+ , A+ B- and A- B+ strains were 12(70.59%), 1(5.9%) and 4(23.9%) respectively. PCR ribotyping of 17 isolates showed different ribotype patterns. Conclusion: The pattern of PCR ribotypes of isolates showed that the strains circulating in different wards of the hospital were different and may have been be endogenous or community acquired. Keywords: Clostridium difficile, Toxin, ribotype, Clostridium difficile infection (CDI).