TABLE 2.

Distribution of PCR-ribotypes of initial isolates of C. difficile from 227 patients with diarrhea, including hospital-associated and community-associated cases, by clinical department

Department	No. of patients with PCR-ribotype:
	s3	s12	s16	s19	s20	s21	s21b	s22	s25	s29b	Othera	Total
Pediatrics	2	0	0	1	4	9	4	0	0	3	13b	36
Gastroenterology	0	0	0	1	1	2	1	2	0	1	5	13
Hematology	3	1	1	0	1	2	0	2	0	0	14c	24
Infectious diseases	1	1	2	3	2	9	3	2	1	1	21d	46
Geriatrics	0	2	1	1	2	3	6	3	3	0	10e	31
Nephrology	4	0	1	0	0	2	5	1	0	0	11f	24
Organ transplantation	0	1	1	0	2	1	0	0	1	0	6g	12
Urology	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	4
Rheumatology	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2
Orthopedics	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	3
Oncology	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	3
Neurology	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
Rehabilitation	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2
Lung medicine	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	3
Cardiology	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2
Emergency	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	4
Endocrinology	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	3	6
Other departments	0	0	1	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	5	10
All departments	10	6	8	7	14	33	22	11	6	8	102	227

^aPCR-ribotypes represented by fewer than six patients each.

^bIncluding two patients with PCR-ribotype s32.

^cIncluding two patients with PCR-ribotype s25b and two patients with PCR-ribotype s30.

^dIncluding two patients with PCR-ribotype s17 and two patients with PCR-ribotype s2.

^eIncluding two patients with PCR-ribotype s21d and two patients with PCR-ribotype s34.

^fIncluding two patients with PCR-ribotype s25b.

^gIncluding two patients with PCR-ribotype s5.