PRELIMINARY FINDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL TYPING STUDY ON CLOSTRIDIUM-DIFFICILE

Preliminary results of the International Typing Study on Clostridium d ifficile indicate that there is excellent correlation between the phen otypic methods reliant on cell surface antigens for typing strains and that a larger number of phenotypes and genotypes of C. difficile exis ts than was previously appreciated by each group of investigators acti ng independently, Evidence has also emerged that some of the types des cribed by each method are common to all typing methods, indicating tha t strains of the same type are found in hospitals in the United Kingdo m, Belgium, the United States, and Australia.