Free
E-newsletter
Subscribe to Housecall
Our weekly general interest
e-newsletter keeps you up to date
on a wide variety of health topics.
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffClostridium difficile (klos-TRID-e-uhm dif-uh-SEEL), often called C. difficile or C. diff, is a bacterium that can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammation of the colon. Illness from C. difficile most commonly affects older adults in hospitals or in long term care facilities and typically occurs after use of antibiotic medications.
In recent years, C. difficile infections have become more frequent, more severe and more difficult to treat. Each year, tens of thousands of people in the United States get sick from C. difficile, including some otherwise healthy people who aren't hospitalized or taking antibiotics.
Mild illness caused by C. difficile may get better if you stop taking antibiotics. Severe symptoms require treatment with a different antibiotic.
- Kelly CP, et al. Treatment of antibiotic-associated diarrhea caused by Clostridium difficile in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Sept. 28, 2010.
- Bartlett JG. Narrative review: The new epidemic of Clostridium difficile-associated enteric disease. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2006;145:758.
- Pepin J, et al. Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea in a region of Quebec from 1991 to 2003: A changing pattern of disease severity. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 2004;171:466.
- Kelly CP, et al. Clostridium difficile — More difficult than ever. New England Journal of Medicine. 2008;359:1932.
- LaMont JT. Clinical manifestations and diagnosis of Clostridium difficile infection in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Sept. 28, 2010.
- Efron PA, et al. Clostridium difficile colitis. Surgical Clinics of North America. 2009;89:483.
- Monaghan T, et al. Recent advances in Clostridium difficile-associated disease. Gut. 2008;57:850.
- Kelly CP, et al. Antibiotic-associated diarrhea, pseudomembranous enterocolitis, and Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea and colitis. In: Feldman M, et al. Sleisenger and Fordtan's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, Management. 9th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2010. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/linkTo?type=bookPage&isbn=978-1-4160-6189-2&eid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-6189-2..00108-6. Accessed Sept. 30, 2010.
- Bartlett JG, et al. Clinical recognition and diagnosis of Clostridium difficile infection. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2008;46(suppl):S12.
- Bakken JS. Fecal bacteriotherapy for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection. Anaerobe. 2009;15:285.
Find Mayo Clinic on