@article {Borriello84, author = {S P Borriello and P Honour and T Turner and F Barclay}, title = {Household pets as a potential reservoir for Clostridium difficile infection.}, volume = {36}, number = {1}, pages = {84--87}, year = {1983}, doi = {10.1136/jcp.36.1.84}, publisher = {BMJ Publishing Group}, abstract = {The purpose of this study was to assess the carriage of Clostridium difficile by household pets to determine their potential as a reservoir of infection. The selective cycloserine-cefoxitin medium was used for C difficile isolation, and tissue culture used for detection of cytotoxin. Carriage of C difficile by household pets was found to be common (23\%). The carriage tends to be transient and does not appear to be associated with gastrointestinal disease. Although carriage was higher in animals who had antecedent antibiotic treatment (31\%) compared to those which had not (19\%), the differences were not statistically significant. In most cases non-cytotoxigenic strains were isolated. Of the cytotoxigenic strains isolated at least one strain was pathogenic in a well documented animal model of human disease. Both cytotoxigenic and non-cytotoxigenic strains of C difficile could be isolated from the environment of the animals studied.}, issn = {0021-9746}, URL = {https://jcp.bmj.com/content/36/1/84}, eprint = {https://jcp.bmj.com/content/36/1/84.full.pdf}, journal = {Journal of Clinical Pathology} }