Elsevier

Anaerobe

Volume 55, February 2019, Pages 8-10
Anaerobe

Pathogenesis and toxins
Contamination of hospital food with Clostridium difficile in Central Italy

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anaerobe.2018.10.008Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • 1

    350 food samples from three Italian hospitals were investigated for C. difficile.

  • 2

    The overall prevalence of C. difficile-positive hospital meals was 0,6% (2/350).

  • 3

    Both the isolated strains were toxigenic.

Abstract

This study investigates the contamination of foods with Clostridium difficile in 3 hospitals of Central Italy. We used real-time PCR for tpi gene to analyse 350 food samples, including 296 cooked meals and 54 foods to be eaten raw. The molecular screening test was positive for 3 samples, but toxigenic C. difficile was isolated only in two of them. The prevalence in cooked food was 0,3% (1/296), while in uncooked processed foods was 1,9% (1/54). Data support the potential risk of food as a source of toxigenic C. difficile for hospitalized patients, but further investigations are needed.

Keywords

Clostridium difficile
Food
Hospital

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