Epidemiological Characterization of Clostridium Difficile Infections in a Rural Community Setting

Clostridium difficile is a microorganism - a Gram-positive anaerobic bacterium that has developed and hyperspecialized the ability to form spores. Outside the host, Clostridium difficile germinates spores which are resistant to unfavorable environment and for an extremely long time period. Clostridium difficile infection frequently occurs on a background of major disturbances in the balance of the normal intestinal flora caused by use for therapeutic purposes of broad-spectrum antibiotics. Patients infected with Clostridium difficile in medical facilities are usually elderly people, immunosuppressed or subjected to an antibiotic medication regimen. Wide-scale community use of antibiotics and proton-pump inhibitors induces favorable conditions for the germination of Clostridium difficile spores in the gastrointestinal tract.

Clostridium difficile biocolonizes many domestic and wild animals. Clostridium difficile is a complex bacterium, capable of developing resistance forms that parasitize the gastrointestinal tract of humans, and also many animals. An important source of the Clostridium difficile infection is represented primarily by antibiotic medication administered in communities without medical recommendation, as well as food.