Perspective
Toxin A-negative, toxin B-positive Clostridium difficile

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2006.04.003Get rights and content
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Summary

Clostridium difficile is a major cause of infectious diarrhea in hospitalized patients. Many pathogenic strains of Clostridium difficile produce two toxins TcdA and TcdB, both of which are pro-inflammatory and enterotoxic in human intestine. Clinically relevant toxin A-negative, toxin B-positive (AB+) strains of Clostridium difficile that cause diarrhea and colitis in humans have been isolated with increasing frequency worldwide. This perspective describes these important toxin variant strains and highlights the need to use Clostridium difficile diagnostic methods that can detect both TcdA and TcdB.

Keywords

AB+Clostridium difficile
Infectious diarrhea
Bacterial genotyping

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