Clostridium difficile is a spore-forming gram-positive anaerobic bacterium responsible for approximately 25% of the diarrhoea associated with the consumption of antibiotics. In addition to these symptoms, the disease can led to complications (like pseudomembranous colitis, PMC) which require urgent treatment with specific antibiotics as the patient’s life may be compromised. C. difficile related mortality might reach 30%.
GDH is an enzyme produced in large quantities by C. difficile. It is an excellent marker for the detection of infections caused by this microorganism.
C.difficile can release toxins, A and/or B, which are the main virulence factors responsible for the clinical signs of C.difficile disease. Nevertheless, not all the strains produce them. In fact, treating non-symptomatic patients is usually ineffective and increases the risk of developing a pathogenic infection.
The international guideline (the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America -SHEA-, the Infectious Diseases Society of America -IDSA-, the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases -ESCMID-) for the diagnosis of C.diff recommends to test all the samples for GDH antigen when the origin of the digarrea is unknown followed by a monitoring testing for toxin A and B if the first test is positive.
SIMPLE GDH-Toxins allows you to follow this recommended algorithm with just one test helping to make better and faster decisions.
