Figure 7.

Antibiotic-treated mice do not become colonized with C. difficile after exposure to germinated spores in their environment. Cages were inoculated with either 10 CFU/cm² germinated spores, 10 CFU/cm² dormant spores, 1 CFU/cm² dormant spores, or 0.1 CFU/cm² dormant C. difficile spores. Antibiotic-treated mice were exposed to contaminated cages for 2 hours. Panel A shows the colony forming units of viable spores recovered from 1 cage at 0, 30, 60, and 120 minutes post inoculation. Panel B shows the percentage of mice that became colonized with C. difficile 48 and 72 hours after exposure to spores (N = 40 mice total, 20 mice 10 CFU/cm² germinated spore group, 10 mice 10 CFU/cm² dormant spore group, 5 mice 1 CFU/cm² dormant spore group, and 5 mice 0.1 CFU/cm² dormant spore group).