Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về y học được đăng trên tạp chí y học Critical Care giúp cho các bạn có thêm kiến thức về ngành y học đề tài: Clostridium difficile: the increasingly difficult pathogen. | Available online http content 12 1 114 Commentary Clostridium difficile the increasingly difficult pathogen Aurora Pop-Vicas and Marguerite A Neill Warren Alpert Medical School Brown University Division of Infectious Diseases Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island 111 Brewster Street Pawtucket RI 02860 USA Corresponding author Aurora Pop-Vicas Aurora_Pop-Vicas@ Published 7 February 2008 This article is online at http content 12 1 114 2008 BioMed Central Ltd Critical Care 2008 12 114 doi cc6773 See related review by Gould and McDonald http content 12 1 203 Abstract The epidemiology of Clostridium difficile infection is changing as a result of the epidemic spread of the hypervirulent North American Pulsefield type 1 strain. Clinicians are likely to encounter this disease more frequently than ever in their practice and should be familiar with the updates in its diagnosis and treatment. In the present issue of Critical Care Gould and McDonald 1 provide a comprehensive up-to-date review of Clostridium difficile - a pathogen of increasing concern worldwide. Recognized as the main cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea for several decades 2 Clostridium difficile infection CDI had developed a reputation more as an economic challenge than a therapeutic one. That perception has changed dramatically in recent years after several outbreaks of unprecedented severity with increased frequency of complications such as septic shock toxic megacolon colectomy and death were reported in the United States and Canada 3 4 . This different clinical picture is attributed to the emergence of a new C. difficile strain designated North American Pulsefield type 1 NAP1 . This strain s heightened virulence correlates with 20-fold greater toxin production compared with historical strains 1 2 . Intriguingly the NAP1 strain has been found in cattle and other animals as well as in retail ground meat 5 but food-borne transmission has not been proven. .
