Table 3.

C. difficile PCR-positive cases.

No.	Underlying Disease	Symptoms	Age	Sex	Time to PCR Result (h)	Length of Stay in the ED (h)	Hospitalization	CDI Diagnosis				Start of Antibiotic Treatment after Admission to the ED (h)	Iso-Lation (h)	Hospital Length of Stay (h)
								PCR Ct Value	WBC 1 (Gpt/mL)	Creatinine 1 (mmol/L)	Recurrence (R), First Diagnosis (F), or non Relevant (N)
1	Stroke condition	Diarrhea and fever	74	f	4.83	11.5	No 2	26.3	24.8	88	R	Vancomycin and metronidazole (7.22)
2	COPD 3, Crohn’s disease, recurrent UTI 4, and CHD 5	Diarrhea, kidney failure, and metabolic acidosis	73	m	4.25	6.77	Yes	24.7	12.6	246	F	Vancomycin (5.1) and piperacillin– tazobactam (5.75)	161.75	168.5
3	Alzheimer’s disease and recurrent UTI 4	Diarrhea	96	f	3.68	10.17	Yes	25.1	22.4	113	F	None	259	269.32
4	Diabetes	Diarrhea	93	f	4.14	N.D.	No 2	31.1	13.8	69	F	Metronidazole
5	Kidney disease with dialysis and diabetes	Abdominal pain, nausea, and fever	78	m	12.5	4.48	Yes	24.3	8.1	349	R	None	254.5	259
6	Hirschsprung’s disease	Obstipation and vomiting	1	m	4.01	<1	Yes	27.7	14.3	20	N	None	47	47.15
7	Alcoholism	Diarrhea for one week and cachexia	69	f	3.63	11.67	Yes	20.9	5.6	60	F	Vancomycin (t.n.a. 6)	182.33	193.98
8	Rheumatoid arthritis and chronic renal failure	Diarrhea for one week and exsiccosis	94	m	15.3	2.93	Yes	21.9	24.1	184	R	Vancomycin (19.17)	331.25	334.17
9	Rectal carcinoma and chronic renal failure	Ileus, abdominal pain, and weight loss	83	m	13.75	4.1	Yes	31.7	15.4	106	N	Metronidazole (15.5)	0 7	280.25
10	Ulcerative colitis and chronic renal failure	Diarrhea and fever	90	f	12.75	5.87	Yes	23.5	11.3	110	R	Vancomycin, metronidazole (9.5)	204	209.82
11	Granulomatosis, monoclonal gammopathy, diabetes, dementia, UTI 4, and sepsis	Diarrhea and fever	85	f	18	6.84	Yes	36.8	22.7	285	F	Vancomycin (t.n.a. 6) and piperacillin–tazobactam (2)	215.5	577.23
12	CHD 5, asthma, and osteosynthesis after femur fracture	Diarrhea for more than one week	85	f	19.6	5.22	Yes	28.3	15.1	132	F	Vancomycin (t.n.a. 6)	143	148.25
13	Chronic venous insufficiency, recurrent UTI 4, and abscessed symphysis	Diarrhea, exsiccosis, and fever	80	m	8.1	3.85	Yes	23.3	31	63	F	Vancomycin (t.n.a 6)	114.5	129.78
14	Stroke condition, adipositas, sepsis	Diarrhea and fever	75	f	22.6	4.25	Yes 8	22.2	21.9	80	F	Vancomycin. Metronidazole (t.n.a. 6) and piperacillin–tazobactam (0.7)	t.n.a. 6	t.n.a. 6
15	Malignant melanoma	Diarrhea and fever	46	m	12.43	2.75	Yes	26.3	4.9	39	F	Vancomycin and ampicillin–sulbactam (13.23)	417	420.03
16	Hirschsprung’s disease	Diarrhea and fever	<1	f	13.6	<1	Yes	23.2	18.4	N.D.	F	Metronidazole (14)	137.88	137.88
17	Pancreatic carcinoma	Diarrhea, exsiccosis, and abdominal pain	59	m	5.38	10.37	Yes	31.6	15	60	F	Vancomycin (15.25)	125.25	135.67
18	Alzheimer’s disease, CHD 5, diabetes, and chronic renal failure	Diarrhea	83	f	3.07	8.17	Yes	26	4.7	168	F	Vancomycin and metronidazole (6.1)	151.5	159.6
19	Hodgkin‘s disease, conditions after CDI, and sepsis	Diarrhea and vomiting	60	m	5.08	8.97	Yes	28.4	21.4	103	R	Vancomycin (8.75) and meropenem (4.75)	188.5	197.52
20	Short bowel syndrome, ileostomy	Abdominal pain, fever	12	m	5.5	4	No 9	29.4	6	41	N	None

¹ Reference ranges: white blood cells (WBC) 4.5–11.3 Gpt/L and creatinine 44–80 μmol/L. ² Nursing home. ³ COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. ⁴ UTI: urinary tract infection. ⁵ CHD: coronary heart disease. ⁶ t.n.a.: time not available. ⁷ Hygiene management error. ⁸ Transfer into another hospital. ⁹ No clinical relevance.