Evidence for antibiotic induced Clostridium perfringens diarrhoea
- Department of Microbiology, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne NE7 7DN, UK; homoresearch@compuserve.com
We read with interest the paper entitled “Evidence for antibiotic induced Clostridium perfringens diarrhoea”.1 The authors review the current knowledge of this syndrome and discuss the need for routine screening. To contribute to this debate we present the results of a recent survey performed in our laboratory. Clostridium difficile is a major cause of antibiotic associated diarrhoea (AAD) but an increasing number of reports implicate C perfringens as a cause of this condition.2 Because our hospital has a substantial number of cases of AAD, we decided to perform a survey of the incidence of C perfringens enterotoxin in stools from hospital inpatients.
Over a six month period, all …
