Clostridium Difficile Infection - Analysis of Risk Factors in Constanta

It has been estimated that the human gut contains about 1,000 species of bacteria and 100 times more genes than are found in the human genome. Over 2 Kg - as weight. It is the human microbiom that form a true “forgotten organ” of our body.

Due to the abuse of antibiotics, the Clostridium difficile infection became one of the top nosocomial infections due to complications and financial pressure on the medical system.

We conducted a prospective study of the characteristics of risk factors and epidemiological aspects in patients with Clostridium difficile infection admitted to the Clinical Hospital for Infectious Diseases from Constanta for a period of 3 years. Demographics (age), risk factors (surgery, history of antibiotics or proton pump inhibitors, comorbidities) were noted. The classes of antibiotics used, other than the basic treatment of the condition were analyzed. Also the source of the infection including the ward were the patient was previously hospitalized.

47% (104) of the patients were in the 60-80 interval of age. Nearly half of the patients had a history of surgery. Only 52 patients out of a total of 221 had no history of antibiotic therapy. More than half had PPI therapy prior to the onset of CD infection. In terms of comorbidities, they are multiple, at different systems, the most common being cardiovascular, nutritional and renal diseases. The source of infection was found as nosocomial in 65% of patients. Regarding the origin of the hospital wards, the surgical departments were the main ones in which CD infections appeared: General Surgery (46), Orthopedics (33) and Urology (13).

Our study results confirm that reported risk factors are advanced age, antibiotics use, proton pump inhibitors administration, comorbidities and exposure to health care sistem.