Clostridium difficile (also referred to as "C. diff" or "CDI") now rivals methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as the most common organism to cause healthcare‐associated infections in the United States. In the United States, the proportion of hospital discharges in which the patient received the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision discharge diagnosis code for CDI more than doubled between 2000 and 2003, and CDI rates continued to increase in 2004 and 2005 (L. C. McDonald, MD, personal communication, July 2007). These increases have been seen in pediatric and adult populations, but elderly individuals have been disproportionately affected. CDI incidence has also increased in Canada and Europe. Adding to concerns are numerous reports of an increase in CDI severity.
CDI is associated with increased lengths of hospital stay, costs, morbidity, and mortality among adult patients. It also increases mean length of hospital stay from 2.6 days to 4.5 days. Attributable costs of inpatient CDI have been estimated to be $2,470‐$3,669 per episode. US hospital costs for CDI management have been estimated to be $3.2 billion per year.
Infection Control and Epidemiology: Volume 29, Number 10, October 2008, pp. 901-994