Year: 2019
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: C. difficile is a clinically significant healthcare associated infection, but recently there has been an emergence of a new class of C. difficile infection (CDI); communityassociated (CA) -CDI.This presents added burden to the already significant issue.CDI is responsible for an estimated 453,000 cases and at least 29,000 deaths annually in the United States (Curry, 2017).As a spore former, it is difficult to remove from the hospital environment.C. difficile has been found in a wide variety of mammals, including dogs, and there is a potential for zoonotic transmission of C. difficile from dogs to humans.This study aims to determine if owning a dog or owning a dog that tests positive for C. difficile increases the odds of having C. difficile.This study will also examine the antibiotic resistance pattern of the C. difficile strains found in humans and dogs to see if they are the same.This study will accomplish this through a robust sampling and survey method.Patients at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center diagnosed with CDI were asked about whether they owned a dog and provided a fecal sample if they did.PCR ribotyping and antibiotic resistance typing is used to examine the genetic relatedness of strains isolated from humans and their dogs and indistinguishable strains could represent transmission.This study provided data to support that C. difficile was not transmitted between dogs and humans.
Author: Collins, Sean P
Institution: The Ohio State University
Language: English
Subfield: Infectious Diseases
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Nationwide Children's Hospital
OpenAlex ID: W7039468335