Clostridium difficile Infection Epidemiology over a Period of 8 Years—A Single Centre Study

A Pharmacovigilance Study Regarding the Risk of Antibiotic-Associated Clostridioides difficile Infection Based on Reports from the EudraVigilance Database: Analysis of Some of the Most Used Antibiotics in Intensive Care Units

The Gram-positive anaerobic bacterium Clostridioides difficile (CD) can produce intense exotoxins, contributing to nosocomial infections, and it is the most common cause of health-care-associated infectious diarrhea. Based on spontaneous Individual Case Safety Reports from EudraVigilance (EV), we conducted a descriptive analysis of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) cases that reported a spontaneous adverse reaction related to using ceftriaxone, colistimethate, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, linezolid, meropenem, and piperacillin/tazobactam. Most ADR reports registered in EV that were related to CDI were associated with ceftriaxone (33%), ciprofloxacin (28%), and piperacillin/tazobactam (21%). Additionally, the disproportionality analysis performed showed that all studied antibiotics had a lower reporting probability when compared to clindamycin. A causal relationship between a drug and the occurrence of an adverse reaction cannot be established from EV data alone because the phenomena of underreporting, overreporting, and reporting bias may affect the results. Based on the analysis of the collected data, this study underlines the importance of surveillance and monitoring programs for the consumption of antibiotics. Furthermore, it is essential to use standardized laboratory tests to define CDI's nature accurately. To prevent this infection, specialists should collaborate and adhere strictly to antibiotic stewardship programs, hygiene practices, and isolation protocols.

Clostridium difficile Infection: Risk and Poor Prognostic Factors at a Tertiary Hospital in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND

 Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is a common cause of hospital-acquired diarrhea. It is associated with significantly higher mortality and morbidity in addition to the cost-effectiveness burden on the healthcare system. The primary risk factors for C. difficile infection (CDI) are past C. difficile exposure, proton pump inhibitors, and antibiotic usage. These risk factors are also associated with poor prognosis.

OBJECTIVE

This study was performed in Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Tertiary Hospital in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia. The aim was to evaluate the risk and prognostic factors of CDI and their association with the outcomes of hospital stay, such as complications, length of stay (LOS), and treatment duration.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

This is a retrospective cohort study for all patients who tested for C. difficile in the medical department. The target population was all adult patients ≥16 years with positive stool toxins for C. difficile between April 2019 and July 2022. The main outcome measures are risk and poor prognostic factors for CDI.

RESULTS

C. difficle infection patients were included in the study; 12 (52.2%) were female, and 11 (47.8%) were male. The mean age of the patients was 58.3 (SD: 21.5) years; 13 (56.5%) patients were below 65 years, and 10 were above 65 years. Only four patients were without comorbidities, and 19 (82.6%) patients had various comorbidities. Importantly, hypertension was the most common comorbidity in 47.8% of the patients. Furthermore, advanced age significantly impacted the hospital LOS as the mean age among patients who stayed at the hospital less than four days and those who stayed ≥4 days was 49.08 (19.7) and 68.36 (19.5), respectively (P = .028).

CONCLUSION

 Advanced age was the most frequent poor prognostic factor among our inpatient participants with positive CDI. It was significantly associated with longer hospital LOS, more complications, and longer treatment duration.

Surface layer protein A from hypervirulent Clostridioides difficile ribotype 001 can induce autophagy process in human intestinal epithelial cells

Clostridioides difficile is the leading cause of nosocomial diarrhea with high morbidity and mortality worldwide. C. difficile strains produce a crystalline surface layer protein A (SlpA), which is an absolute necessity for its pathogenesis. However, its pathogenic mechanisms and its pro-inflammatory behavior are not yet fully elucidated. Herein, we report for the first time that SlpA extracted from C. difficile can induce autophagy process in Caco-2 cells. SlpA protein was purified from two C. difficile strains (RT001 and ATCC 700075). The cell viability of Caco-2 cells after exposure with different concentrations (15, 20, 25 μg/mL) of SlpA at various time points (3, 6, 12, 24 h) was measured by MTT assay. Acridine orange staining was used to visualize the hypothetical acidic vesicular organelles. The gene expression of autophagy mediators including LC3B, Atg5, Atg16L, and Beclin-1 was determined by quantitative real-time PCR assay. Western blotting assay was used to detect the expression of LC3B protein. MTT assay showed that different concentrations of SlpA did not induce significant changes in the viability of Caco-2 cells. SlpA at concentration of 20 μg/mL enhanced the formation of acidic vesicular organelles in Caco-2 cells after 12 h of exposure. Moreover, SlpA treatment significantly increased the expression of autophagy-associated genes, and increased the expression of LC3B protein in Caco-2 cells. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that SlpA is capable to induce autophagy in intestinal epithelial cells. These findings reveal a novel mechanism for the pathogenesis of C. difficile mediated by its SLPs.

Post-Discharge Clostridioides difficile Infection after Arthroplasties in Poland, Infection Prevention and Control as the Key Element of Prevention of C. difficile Infections

Clostridioides difficile is still one of the most common causes of hospital-acquired infectious diarrhea (CDI), and the incidence of CDI is one of the indicators that allows conclusions to be derived on the correctness of antibiotic administration. The objective of this observational study was the analysis of post-discharge CDI incidence in patients undergoing hip or knee arthroplasty, in order to specify optimum conditions for the surgical procedures and outpatient postoperative care. One-year observational study. Public Polish hospitals. Retrospective records for 83,525 surgery patients having undergone hip or knee arthroplasty were extracted from the Polish National Health Fund databases. CDI and/or antibiotic prescriptions in the 30 day post-surgery period were expressed per 1000 surgeries with antibiotic prescription on discharge or in ambulatory care, respectively. The CDI incidence rate was 34.4 per 10,000 patients, and 7.7 cases per 100,000 post-surgery patient-days. Patients who were prescribed at least one antibiotic were diagnosed with CDI more often than patients who had no antibiotic treatment (55.0/1000 patients vs. 1.8/1000 patients). In the multifactorial analysis, the following factors were significant: being at least 65 years of age, trauma as the cause of surgery, length of stay over 7 days, HAIs other than CDI and taking beta-lactams and/or quinolones but not macrolides in the post-discharge period. Postoperative antibiotic prescription in patients undergoing joint replacement surgery is the main risk factor for CDI. These observations indicate the necessity of improvement of infection control programs as the key factor for CDI prevention.

Comorbidities, Associated Diseases, and Risk Assessment in COVID-19-A Systematic Review

It is considered that COVID-19's pandemic expansion is responsible for the particular increase in deaths, especially among the population with comorbidities. The health system is often overwhelmed by the large number of cases of patients addressing it, by the regional limitation of funds, and by the gravity of cases at subjects suffering from this pathology. Several associated conditions including diabetes, cardiovascular illnesses, obesity, persistent lung condition, neurodegenerative diseases, etc., increase the mortality risk and hospitalization of subjects suffering from COVID-19. The rapid identification of patients with increased risk of death from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the stratification in accordance with the risk and the allocation of human, financial, and logistical resources in proportion must be a priority for health systems worldwide.

Epidemiology of botulism in the north-western Romania-a 7-year survey

Botulism is a rare, acute, life-threatening neuro-paralysis. The digestive onset may raise diagnostic issues. The objective of our study was to analyze the clinical and epidemiological data of patients diagnosed with botulism and hospitalized in "Gavril Curteanu" Municipal Clinical Hospital (Oradea, Romania). Detection of the Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin (type B) in the laboratories of the National Institute of Medical-Military Research Development "Cantacuzino", Bucharest, Romania (using the mouse bioassays method) confirmed the diagnostics. The statistical analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS software. Forty-eight patients with the diagnosis of foodborne botulism were hospitalized between 2012 and 2018 (36.92% of the total number of cases of botulism reported in Romania). The winter-spring period was the period when most cases were registered (36 patients, p=0.020). Women from rural areas were predominant (but not statistically significant), and the patients' mean age was 39.93±12.59 years. The most common source/cause of botulism was the consumption of homemade ham. The incubation period was 26.68±22.94 h, and 2.25±1.68 days passed from the clinical onset to diagnosis. The results prove that botulism is still a public health issue, especially in areas where homemade products are prepared using inappropriate/unsafe recipes/procedures.

Frontiers in antibiotic alternatives for Clostridioides difficile infection

Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) is a gram-positive, anaerobic spore-forming bacterium and a major cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. Humans are naturally resistant to C. difficile infection (CDI) owing to the protection provided by healthy gut microbiota. When the gut microbiota is disturbed, C. difficile can colonize, produce toxins, and manifest clinical symptoms, ranging from asymptomatic diarrhea and colitis to death. Despite the steady-if not rising-prevalence of CDI, it will certainly become more problematic in a world of antibiotic overuse and the post-antibiotic era. C. difficile is naturally resistant to most of the currently used antibiotics as it uses multiple resistance mechanisms. Therefore, current CDI treatment regimens are extremely limited to only a few antibiotics, which include vancomycin, fidaxomicin, and metronidazole. Therefore, one of the main challenges experienced by the scientific community is the development of alternative approaches to control and treat CDI. In this Frontier article, we collectively summarize recent advances in alternative treatment approaches for CDI. Over the past few years, several studies have reported on natural product-derived compounds, drug repurposing, high-throughput library screening, phage therapy, and fecal microbiota transplantation. We also include an update on vaccine development, pre- and pro-biotics for CDI, and toxin antidote approaches. These measures tackle CDI at every stage of disease pathology via multiple mechanisms. We also discuss the gaps and concerns in these developments. The next epidemic of CDI is not a matter of if but a matter of when. Therefore, being well-equipped with a collection of alternative therapeutics is necessary and should be prioritized.

Clostridioides difficile Infection among Cirrhotic Patients with Variceal Bleeding

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) stands as the leading cause of nosocomial infection with high morbidity and mortality rates, causing a major burden on the healthcare system. Driven by antibiotics, it usually affects older patients with chronic disease or immunosuppressed or oncologic management. Variceal bleeding secondary to cirrhosis requires antibiotics to prevent bacterial translocation, and thus patients become susceptible to CDI. We aimed to investigate the risk factors for CDI in cirrhotic patients with variceal bleeding following ceftriaxone and the mortality risk in this patient’s population. We retrospectively screened 367 cirrhotic patients with variceal bleeding, from which 25 patients were confirmed with CDI, from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2019. We found MELD to be the only multivariate predictor for mortality (odds ratio, OR = 1.281, 95% confidence interval, CI: 0.098–1.643, p = 0.042). A model of four predictors (age, days of admission, Charlson index, Child–Pugh score) was generated (area under the receiver operating characteristics curve, AUC = 0.840, 95% CI: 0.758–0.921, p < 0.0001) to assess the risk of CDI exposure. Determining the probability of getting CDI for cirrhotic patients with variceal bleeding could be a tool for doctors in taking decisions, which could be integrated in sustainable public health programs.

Risk Factors Associated with Recurrent Clostridioides difficile Infection

Clostridioides difficile (CD) is responsible for nosocomial diarrhea syndrome with possible severe progression. Recurrence of the disease induces higher health system costs, as well as exposes patients to additional health risks. Patients with recurrence of this disease are difficult to identify, so the purpose of this study is to quantify various demographic, clinical, and treatment factors that could prevent further progression to recurrence of the disease. In the period 2018–2019, about 195 patients were diagnosed with more than one episode of CDI in the three months following the first episode. The recurrence rate for CDI was 53.84% (60.95% for one episode and 39.05% for multiple episodes). Most commonly afflicted were 60–69-year-old patients, or those with higher Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI). Multiple analyses associated cardiovascular (odds ratios (OR) = 3.02, 95% confidence intervals (CI) = 1.23–7.39, p = 0.015), digestive (OR = 3.58, 95% CI = 1.01–12.63, p = 0.047), dementia (OR = 3.26, 95% CI = 1.26–8.41, p = 0.014), immunosuppressive (OR = 3.88, 95% CI = 1.34–11.21, p = 0.012) comorbidities with recurrences. Risk factor identification in the first episode of CDI could lead to the implementation of treatment strategies to improve the patients’ quality of life affected by this disease.

Risk Factors Associated with Recurrent Clostridioides difficile Infection

Clostridioides difficile (CD) is responsible for nosocomial diarrhea syndrome with possible severe progression. Recurrence of the disease induces higher health system costs, as well as exposes patients to additional health risks. Patients with recurrence of this disease are difficult to identify, so the purpose of this study is to quantify various demographic, clinical, and treatment factors that could prevent further progression to recurrence of the disease. In the period 2018-2019, about 195 patients were diagnosed with more than one episode of CDI in the three months following the first episode. The recurrence rate for CDI was 53.84% (60.95% for one episode and 39.05% for multiple episodes). Most commonly afflicted were 60-69-year-old patients, or those with higher Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI). Multiple analyses associated cardiovascular (odds ratios (OR) = 3.02, 95% confidence intervals (CI) = 1.23-7.39, p = 0.015), digestive (OR = 3.58, 95% CI = 1.01-12.63, p = 0.047), dementia (OR = 3.26, 95% CI = 1.26-8.41, p = 0.014), immunosuppressive (OR = 3.88, 95% CI = 1.34-11.21, p = 0.012) comorbidities with recurrences. Risk factor identification in the first episode of CDI could lead to the implementation of treatment strategies to improve the patients' quality of life affected by this disease.