Version 2.78

Descriptions

Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is a species of bacteria of the genus Clostridium which are gram-positive, anaerobic, spore-forming rods. It is the most significant cause of pseudomembranous colitis , a severe infection of the colon, often after normal gut flora is eradicated by the use of antibiotics. Treatment consists of stopping any antibiotics and administering specific anticlostridial antibiotics such as metronidazole. Copyright Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ for details. Source: Wikipedia, Clostridium difficile (Wikipedia)

A common inhabitant of the colon flora in human infants and sometimes in adults. It produces a toxin that causes pseudomembranous enterocolitis in patients receiving antibiotic therapy. Source: National Library of Medicine, MeSH 2006

C. difficile is an opportunistic anaerobic bacterium that grows in the intestine when the normal flora has been altered by antibiotic treatment. Patients develop gastrointestinal problems ranging from mild diarrhea to severe pseudomembranous colitis. Many cases of the milder forms of gastrointestinal illness and most cases of pseuomembranous colitis are caused by toxigenic strains of Clostridium difficile. Toxigenic strains of the organisim carry the genes encoding the toxins while non-toxigenic strains do not carry the toxin genes. The diseases result from the toxins that the toxigenic organism produces. The clinical symptoms associated with the disease are primarily due to Toxin A, which is a tissue-damaging enterotoxin. A second toxin, Toxin B, referred to as the cytotoxin of the organism, is also produced; this is the toxin detected by the tissue culture assay currently used by many laboratories. C. difficile strains produce both toxins or only Toxin B. The glutamate dehydrogenase of C. difficile is a good antigen marker for the organism in feces because it is produced in high amounts by all strains, toxigenic or non-toxigenic. A positive result confirms the presence of this organism in a fecal specimen; a negative result indicates absence of the organism. Information from Inverness Medical Diagnositics. Source: Regenstrief Institute

Basic Part Properties

Part Display Name
Clostridioides difficile
Part Type
Component (Describes the core component or analyte measured)
Created On
2000-05-04
Construct for LOINC Short Name
C diff

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Language Variants Get Info

Tag Language Translation
zh-CN Chinese (China) 艰难梭菌
Synonyms: 艰难梭状芽胞杆菌;艰难芽孢梭菌
fr-CA French (Canada) Clostridioides difficile
et-EE Estonian (Estonia) Clostridium difficile
es-ES Spanish (Spain) Clostridium difficile
it-IT Italian (Italy) Clostridium difficile
tr-TR Turkish (Turkey) Clostridium difficile
ru-RU Russian (Russian Federation) Clostridium difficile
nl-NL Dutch (Netherlands) Clostridioides difficile
Synonyms: Clostridium difficile
fr-BE French (Belgium) Clostridium difficile