Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Clinical Microbiology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Microbiology
. 1980 Dec;12(6):776–779. doi: 10.1128/jcm.12.6.776-779.1980

Rapid detection of Clostridium difficile toxin in human feces.

R W Ryan, I Kwasnik, R C Tilton
PMCID: PMC273696  PMID: 7031079

Abstract

Fifty fecal specimens were tested by three methods, bacterial isolation, counterimmunoelectrophoresis, and tissue culture, for Clostridium difficile and its toxin. Ten specimens (20%) were positive by all three methods. An additional eight specimens were toxin positive only by counterimmunoelectrophoresis. Although counterimmunoelectrophoresis and tissue culture are of equivalent sensitivity, the additional dilution necessary for tissue culture assay may be critical when only small concentrations of toxin are present.

Full text

PDF
776

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bartlett J. G., Chang T. W., Gurwith M., Gorbach S. L., Onderdonk A. B. Antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis due to toxin-producing clostridia. N Engl J Med. 1978 Mar 9;298(10):531–534. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197803092981003. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bartlett J. G., Gorbach S. L. Pseudomembranous enterocolitis (antibiotic-related colitis). Adv Intern Med. 1977;22:455–476. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bartlett J. G., Moon N., Chang T. W., Taylor N., Onderdonk A. B. Role of Clostridium difficile in antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis. Gastroenterology. 1978 Nov;75(5):778–782. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bartlett J. G., Tedesco F. J., Shull S., Lowe B., Chang T. Symptomatic relapse after oral vancomycin therapy of antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis. Gastroenterology. 1980 Mar;78(3):431–434. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Chang T. W., Lauermann M., Bartlett J. G. Cytotoxicity assay in antibiotic-associated colitis. J Infect Dis. 1979 Nov;140(5):765–770. doi: 10.1093/infdis/140.5.765. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Donta S. T., Shaffer S. J. Effects of Clostridium difficile toxin on tissue-cultured cells. J Infect Dis. 1980 Feb;141(2):218–222. doi: 10.1093/infdis/141.2.218. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. George W. L., Sutter V. L., Goldstein E. J., Ludwig S. L., Finegold S. M. Aetiology of antimicrobial-agent-associated colitis. Lancet. 1978 Apr 15;1(8068):802–803. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(78)93001-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Keighley M. R., Burdon D. W., Arabi Y., Williams J. A., Thompson H., Youngs D., Johnson M., Bentley S., George R. H., Mogg G. A. Randomised controlled trial of vancomycin for pseudomembranous colitis and postoperative diarrhoea. Br Med J. 1978 Dec 16;2(6153):1667–1669. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.6153.1667. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kreutzer E. W., Milligan F. D. Treatment of antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis with cholestyramine resin. Johns Hopkins Med J. 1978 Sep;143(3):67–72. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Larson H. E., Parry J. V., Price A. B., Davies D. R., Dolby J., Tyrrell D. A. Undescribed toxin in pseudomembranous colitis. Br Med J. 1977 May 14;1(6071):1246–1248. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.6071.1246. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Taylor N. S., Bartlett J. G. Binding of Clostridium difficile cytotoxin and vancomycin by anion-exchange resins. J Infect Dis. 1980 Jan;141(1):92–97. doi: 10.1093/infdis/141.1.92. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Tedesco F. J. Antibiotic associated pseudomembranous colitis with negative proctosigmoidoscopy examination. Gastroenterology. 1979 Aug;77(2):295–297. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Tedesco F. J., Barton R. W., Alpers D. H. Clindamycin-associated colitis. A prospective study. Ann Intern Med. 1974 Oct;81(4):429–433. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-81-4-429. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Tedesco F., Markham R., Gurwith M., Christie D., Bartlett J. G. Oral vancomycin for antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis. Lancet. 1978 Jul 29;2(8083):226–228. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(78)91741-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Tilton R. C. Counterimmunoelectrophoresis in biology and medicine. CRC Crit Rev Clin Lab Sci. 1978;9(4):347–365. doi: 10.3109/10408367809150925. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Wald A., Mendelow H., Bartlett J. G. Non-antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis due to toxin-producing Clostridia. Ann Intern Med. 1980 Jun;92(6):798–799. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-92-6-798. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Welch D. F., Menge S. K., Matsen J. M. Identification of toxigenic Clostridium difficile by counterimmunoelectrophoresis. J Clin Microbiol. 1980 May;11(5):470–473. doi: 10.1128/jcm.11.5.470-473.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Willey S. H., Bartlett J. G. Cultures for Clostridium difficile in stools containing a cytotoxin neutralized by Clostridium sordellii antitoxin. J Clin Microbiol. 1979 Dec;10(6):880–884. doi: 10.1128/jcm.10.6.880-884.1979. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Microbiology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES