HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Ozaki, E. Articles by Nakamura, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Ozaki, E. Articles by Nakamura, S. Agricola Articles by Ozaki, E. Articles by Nakamura, S.

Clostridium difficile colonization in healthy adults: transient colonization and correlation with enterococcal colonization

Eijiro Ozaki¹, Haru Kato¹, Hiroyuki Kita¹, Tadahiro Karasawa¹, Tsuneo Maegawa¹, Youko Koino¹, Kazumasa Matsumoto², Toshihiko Takada², Koji Nomoto², Ryuichiro Tanaka² and Shinichi Nakamura¹

¹Department of Bacteriology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-8640, Japan ²Yakult Central Institute for Microbiological Research, Tokyo 186-8650, Japan

Correspondence Tadahiro Karasawa karasawa{at}med.kanazawa-u.ac.jp

Received July 4, 2003
Accepted November 17, 2003

The aim of the present study was to investigate the colonization status of Clostridium difficile in healthy individuals. In total, 139 healthy adults from two study groups were examined at intervals of 3 months. Among the 18 positive subjects, the number of subjects from whom C. difficile was isolated once, twice, three times or four times was 10 (55.6 %), three (16.7 %), two (11.1 %) and three (16.7 %), respectively. In the student group, different subjects were colonized by different PCR ribotype/PFGE types. However, the same PCR ribotype/PFGE types of C. difficile were isolated from different subjects in the employee group, indicating that cross-transmission may have occurred in this group. Continuous colonization by the same PCR ribotype/PFGE type was only observed in three subjects. C. difficile-positive subjects were significantly more densely colonized by enterococci (P < 0.05) than C. difficile-negative subjects: subjects that were found to be C. difficile-positive three or four times appeared to have higher concentrations of enterococci. The present results demonstrate that, although colonization by a C. difficile strain is transient in many cases, there are healthy individuals that are colonized persistently by C. difficile. They also suggest that dense colonization of the intestine by enterococci may be associated with C. difficile colonization.

Abbreviation: CDAD, C. difficile-associated diarrhoea.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. B. Kaper and V. Sperandio Bacterial Cell-to-Cell Signaling in the Gastrointestinal Tract Infect. Immun., June 1, 2005; 73(6): 3197 - 3209. [Full Text] [PDF]