NOSOCOMIAL DIARRHEA IN THE ELDERLY DUE TO ENTEROTOXIGENIC CLOSTRIDIUM-PERFRINGENS

To diagnose sporadic diarrhoea due to Clostridium perfringens infectio n, faecal specimens from elderly patients were examined directly for C . perfringens enterotoxin using reverse passive latex agglutination as say, and then cultured for this organism. C. perfringens isolates from those samples were grouped by slide agglutination and by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Fifty of the 60 isolates agglutinated wit h newly raised antiserum WX2 and 38 shared the same genomic PFGE patte rn. Characteristics of the epidemics and experimental data suggest tha t the diarrhoea was caused by a nosocomial spread of C. perfringens, a nd not by a food-borne outbreak.