PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - S P Borriello
AU  - P Honour
AU  - T Turner
AU  - F Barclay
TI  - Household pets as a potential reservoir for Clostridium difficile infection.
AID  - 10.1136/jcp.36.1.84
DP  - 1983 Jan 01
TA  - Journal of Clinical Pathology
PG  - 84--87
VI  - 36
IP  - 1
4099  - http://jcp.bmj.com/content/36/1/84.short
4100  - http://jcp.bmj.com/content/36/1/84.full
SO  - J Clin Pathol1983 Jan 01; 36
AB  - 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.