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Scientific article
French

Infections à Clostridium difficile: spécificités chez le sujet âgé

Contributors

Castrillon, Benedicta Ohanessian; Harbarth, Stéphan Juergen; Prendki, Virginie

Published in

Revue médicale suisse, vol. 9, no. 405, p. 2044-2048

Publication date

2013

Abstract

Clostridium difficile is a well-established cause of infectious nosocomial diarrhea in adults. Each time diarrhea is observed in a patient receiving antibiotic treatment, Clostridium colitis should be suspected; diagnosis should be confirmed by the identification of toxin in the patient's stools. Its incidence is increasing due to growing use of several classes of antibiotics, and is associated with a high relapse rate and a significant case-fatality rate. The elderly are particularly at risk for this type of infection. Recent developments include the occurrence of epidemics in restricted communities and settings and the appearence of new virulent strains of this pathogen (especially PCR Ribotype 027). Vancomycin should be preferred over metronidazole in severe cases of diarrhea. New treatments are currently being tested and evaluated. Prevention remains a priority; high standards of hygiene and careful attention to the judicious prescription of antibiotics are crucial in this regard.

Keywords

  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents/adverse effects
  • Clostridium Infections/diagnosis/epidemiology/microbiology
  • Clostridium difficile/isolation & purification/pathogenicity
  • Diarrhea/microbiology
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Male
  • Recurrence
  • Risk Factors

UNIGE affiliation entities

UNIGE research groups

Citation (ISO format)

CASTRILLON, Benedicta Ohanessian, HARBARTH, Stéphan Juergen, PRENDKI, Virginie. Infections à Clostridium difficile: spécificités chez le sujet âgé. In: Revue médicale suisse, 2013, vol. 9, n° 405, p. 2044–2048. doi: 10.53738/REVMED.2013.9.405.2044

Main files (1)

Article (Published version)

Identifiers

Additional URL for this publication

https://www.revmed.ch/revue-medicale-suisse/2013/revue-medicale-suisse-405/infections-a-clostridium-difficile-specificites-chez-le-sujet-age

Journal ISSN

1660-9379
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Technical informations

Creation

17/04/2014 09:07:00

First validation

17/04/2014 09:07:00

Update

20/10/2025 17:28:15

Status update

20/10/2025 17:28:15

Last indexation

10/11/2026 13:15:11
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