Clostridium difficile infection
I. What every physician needs to know. Clostridium difficile is an anaerobic gram-positive, spore-forming, toxin-producing bacillus that causes a toxin-mediated diarrhea and colitis in susceptible persons, and is transmitted through the fecal-oral route. The pathogenesis is related to the disruption of normal intestinal flora as a result of antibiotic therapy. The two exotoxins (TcdA and…