Always perform hand hygiene after removing gloves.diff transmission via the hands of healthcare personnel. diff spores, using gloves to prevent hand contamination remains the cornerstone for preventing C. As no single method of hand hygiene will eliminate all C.Wear gloves and a gown when entering CDI patient rooms and during their care.Place these patients in private rooms. If private rooms are not available, they can be placed in rooms (cohorted) with other CDI patients.Use contact precautions for patients with known or suspected CDI:.
( Inter-Facility Infection Control Transfer Form pdf icon )ĬDI can be prevented by using antibiotics appropriately and implementing infection control recommendations to prevent transmission.Ĭlinical Practice Guidelines for Clostridium difficile Infection in Adults and Children: 2017 When a patient transfers, notify the new facility if the patient has or had a C.diff and upon patient discharge or transfer using an EPA-approved spore-killing disinfectant. Clean room surfaces thoroughly on a daily basis while treating a patient with C.Continue isolation and contact precautions.diff, reassess appropriateness of antibiotics. diff and handwashing might not be sufficient alone to eliminate all C. Gloves are important because hand sanitizer doesn’t kill C. Wear gloves and a gown when treating patients with C.diff immediately, even if you only suspect CDI. diff test if other etiologies of diarrhea (e.g., stool softener or laxative use) are considered unlikely. If a patient has had ≥ 3 stools in 24 hours: False-negative results occur when specimens are not promptly tested or kept refrigerated until testing can be done. The toxin degrades at room temperature and might be undetectable within two hours after collection of a stool specimen. However, there are increasing concerns about their relative insensitivity (less than tissue culture cytotoxicity and much less than PCR or toxigenic culture). Because these are same-day assays that are relatively inexpensive and easy to perform, they are popular with clinical laboratories. Due to concerns over toxin A-negative, B-positive strains causing disease, most laboratories employ a toxin B-only or A and B assay. Enzyme immunoassay detects toxin A, toxin B, or both A and B.While it served as a historical gold standard for diagnosing clinically significant disease caused by C. diff, it is recognized as less sensitive than PCR or toxigenic culture for detecting the organism in patients with diarrhea. It does provide specific and sensitive results for CDI. This assay requires technical expertise to perform, is costly, and requires 24 to 48 hours for a final result. Tissue culture cytotoxicity assay detects toxin B only.See Figure 2 in the 2017 IDSA/SHEA Clinical Practice Guidelines external icon