Table 1.
Shared Inpatient, Outpatient, and Community Exposures Among 10 Cases of Clostridium difficile Transmission
| Event Numbera | Potential Epidemiologic Link | n (%) | Clostridium difficile Restriction Endonuclease Analysis Group/Sequence Typeb (days between C. difficile infections) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IP: same unit, same day (hospital ward contact) | 1 (10) | DH/ST-42 (96d) |
| 2 | OP: same clinic, same day (outpatient clinic contact) | 1 (10) | G/ST-8 (187d) |
| 3 | IP: different unit, same day (hospital contact) | 1 (10) | N/ST-10 (148d) |
| 4 | IP: same unit, different dayc (hospital ward contamination) | 1 (10) | AL/ST-58 (72d) |
| 5 | IP: different unit, different dayd (hospital contamination) | 1 (10) | M/ST-15e (300d) |
| OP: same clinic, different day (outpatient clinic contamination) | 0 | … | |
| OP: different clinic, same day (outpatient center contact) | 0 | … | |
| 6–7 | OP: different clinic, different dayf (outpatient center contamination) | 2 (20) | G/ST-8 (1d), DH/ST-42 (65d) |
| Community (same postal code) | 0 | ||
| 8–10 | None identified | 3 (30) | N/ST-10 (21d), AH/ST-67 (1d), Y/ST-2 (242d) |
Abbreviations: IP, inpatient; OP, outpatient.
aEvent numbers are referred to in Figure 1.
bBy multilocus sequence typing (https://pubmlst.org/cdifficile).
cThirty-eight days between hospital ward encounters.
dSixty-nine days between hospital encounters.
eNontoxigenic C. difficile strain.
fOne day between outpatient center encounters for both events.