Loading...
Controlling Clostridium difficile infection is a taxing problem in hospitals. The spores are notoriously difficult to eradicate from surfaces, and some studies have suggested that aerosolization can exacerbate the problem.
Researchers found that 6 of 50 air filtrates that were collected at the bedside of patients with confirmed infection at a single British hospital yielded C. difficile. Longer sampling times raised the yield: After 10 hours, bedside air samples of 7 of 10 symptomatic patients were positive. The likelihood of a positive sample correlated with activities such as bedmaking, food delivery, and arrival of visitors. Airborne isolates of C. difficile were indistinguishable from stool and surface isolates, confirming the infected p…