National Guideline Clearinghouse | Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of Clostridium difficile infections.

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National Guideline Clearinghouse | Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of <em>Clostridium difficile</em> infections.

 American College of Gastroenterology

October 21, 2013

Guideline Title

Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of Clostridium difficile infections.

 

Bibliographic Source(s)

Surawicz CM, Brandt LJ, Binion DG, Ananthakrishnan AN, Curry SR, Gilligan PH, McFarland LV, Mellow M, Zuckerbraun BS. Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of Clostridium difficile infections. Am J Gastroenterol. 2013 Apr;108(4):478-98. [253 references] PubMed

 

Guideline Status

This is the current release of the guideline.

Am J Gastroenterol. 2013 Apr;108(4):478-98; quiz 499. doi: 10.1038/ajg.2013.4. Epub 2013 Feb 26.

Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of Clostridium difficile infections.

Surawicz CM, Brandt LJ, Binion DG, Ananthakrishnan AN, Curry SR, Gilligan PH, McFarland LV, Mellow M, Zuckerbraun BS.

Source

Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA 98104, USA. surawicz@u.washington.edu

Abstract

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a leading cause of hospital-associated gastrointestinal illness and places a high burden on our health-care system. Patients with CDI typically have extended lengths-of-stay in hospitals, and CDI is a frequent cause of large hospital outbreaks of disease. This guideline provides recommendations for the diagnosis and management of patients with CDI as well as for the prevention and control of outbreaks while supplementing previously published guidelines. New molecular diagnostic stool tests will likely replace current enzyme immunoassay tests. We suggest treatment of patients be stratified depending on whether they have mild-to-moderate, severe, or complicated disease. Therapy with metronidazole remains the choice for mild-to-moderate disease but may not be adequate for patients with severe or complicated disease. We propose a classification of disease severity to guide therapy that is useful for clinicians. We review current treatment options for patients with recurrent CDI and recommendations for the control and prevention of outbreaks of CDI.

PMID:

23439232

[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]