TY - JOUR AU - Widmer, Andreas AU - Frei, Reno AU - Kuijper, Ed AU - Wilcox, Mark AU - Schindler, Ruth AU - Spaniol, Violeta AU - Goldenberger, Daniel AU - Egli, Adrian AU - Tschudin-Sutter, Sarah T1 - Multicenter Prevalence Study Comparing Molecular and Toxin Assays for Clostridioides difficile Surveillance, Switzerland T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2020 VL - 26 IS - 10 SP - 2370 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Public health authorities in the United States and Europe recommend surveillance for Clostridioides difficile infections among hospitalized patients, but differing diagnostic algorithms can hamper comparisons between institutions and countries. We compared surveillance based on detection of C. difficile by PCR or enzyme immunoassay (EIA) in a nationwide C. difficile prevalence study in Switzerland. We included all routinely collected stool samples from hospitalized patients with diarrhea in 76 hospitals in Switzerland on 2 days, 1 in winter and 1 in summer, in 2015. EIA C. difficile detection rates were 6.4 cases/10,000 patient bed-days in winter and 5.7 cases/10,000 patient bed-days in summer. PCR detection rates were 11.4 cases/10,000 patient bed-days in winter and 7.1 cases/10,000 patient bed-days in summer. We found PCR used alone increased reported C. difficile prevalence rates by <80% compared with a 2-stage EIA-based algorithm. KW - Clostridioides difficile KW - antimicrobial resistance KW - bacteria KW - molecular assay KW - toxin assay KW - surveillance KW - diagnosis KW - healthcare-associated infections KW - enteric infections KW - Switzerland DO - 10.3201/eid2610.190804 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/10/19-0804_article ER - End of Reference