Clostridioides Difficile Testing

Microbiology

Summary

We perform 3 different tests (dependent on the presentation) for:

Glutamate Dehydrogenase (GDH) (ELISA) – detects presence of C. difficile
Toxin A+B (ELISA) – detects presence of the A + B toxins
Toxin Genes (PCR) – detects presence of genes encoding toxins

We will provide an interpretation dependent the combination of these results. If both GDH and toxin are detected by ELISA; we consider this likely to represent toxigenic C. difficile infection and will report this to the Department of Health under the mandatory reporting scheme.

Usage

Screening for / diagnosis of infection with toxigenic Clostridioides difficile (previously known as Clostridium difficile.)

Specimen

Faeces

Specimen container

Fecon pot

How To Request On EPIC

For electronic requesting using EPIC (RDUH ONLY):

Search for: ‘Clostridium difficile screen‘ or test code ‘LAB9451‘

Special Instructions

Please state in clinicals any recent antibiotic use.

Please ensure that stool sample pots are filled between 1/3 to 1/2 full. This is sufficient sample volume for all stool tests. Under-filling or over-filling stool sample pots may lead to samples being unsuitable for analysis.

N.B. Formed stools will NOT be tested for C. diffiicile

Testing will NOT be performed on patients under 2 years old.

Testing will ONLY be performed on patients from the community if:

They are >65 yrs old
Or they have recent antibiotic use
Or it is specifically requested by a clinician on the test request

Availability

Processed locally in Microbiology at RDUH

Processing Time

Within 30 hours (7 days a week)

Useful Links

Patients:

Clostridioides difficile and C. difficile Toxin Testing – Lab Tests Online

Clostridium difficile (C. diff) – NHS

Healthcare professionals:

Clostridioides difficile: guidance, data and analysis – UKHSA

(Keywords: cdiff, c.diff)

Specimen Labelling Procedure