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Infection

Understanding how Clostridium difficile infection in health-care settings spread around the world

Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology volume 10, page 65 (2013)Cite this article

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“Epidemic Clostridium difficile rapidly emerged and spread globally in the past decade to become one of the most feared health-care-associated pathogens,” explains author Trevor Lawley. He adds: “The reasons remain unknown, but we hypothesized that emergence was linked to distinct genetic changes within C. difficile.”

Lawley and colleagues compared the genomes of nearly 300 C. difficile isolates from hospital patients worldwide. Whole-genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis was initially performed on 151 isolates from a global collection of fluoroquinolone-resistant (FQR) C. difficile 027/BI/NAP1, with an additional 145 isolates from the UK also sequenced and analysed.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. He, M. et al. Emergence and global spread of epidemic healthcare-associated Clostridium difficile. Nat. Genet. doi:10.1038/ng.2478

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Authors
  1. Katrina Ray
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Ray, K. Understanding how Clostridium difficile infection in health-care settings spread around the world. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 10, 65 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2012.249

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