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Although Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) has become commonplace in hospitals and clinics in the last 10 years, no recent studies have examined incidence in the specific context of HIV infection. Johns Hopkins researchers retrospectively analyzed predisposing factors for CDI among 154 cases of infection diagnosed in their outpatient HIV clinic between July 2003 and December 2010.
Compared with a set of matched controls (602 HIV-infected patients without known CDI), CDI patients had lower CD4-cell counts, had higher viral loads, and were less likely to be receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) at the time of diagnosis. They were also more likely to have recently received antibiotics of all common classes, gastric-acid suppressors, and st…