ReviewClinical microbiology reviews2013
Diagnosis of Clostridium difficile infection: an ongoing conundrum for clinicians and for clinical laboratories.
Review in Clinical microbiology reviews, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 194 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
194 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Clinical significance of toxin EIA positivity in patients with suspectedJournal of clinical microbiology · 2025Pooled it
- Evaluation of the Cepheid Xpert C. difficile diagnostic assay: an update meta-analysis.Brazilian journal of microbiology : [publication of the Brazilian Society for Microbiology] · 2021Pooled it
- Incidence and Outcomes Associated With Clostridium difficile Infections: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.JAMA network open · 2020Pooled it
- A Laboratory Medicine Best Practices Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests (NAATs) and Algorithms Including NAATs for the Diagnosis ofClinical microbiology reviews · 2019Pooled it
- A Guide to Utilization of the Microbiology Laboratory for Diagnosis of Infectious Diseases: 2018 Update by the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Society for Microbiology.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2018Guideline
- Clinical Practice Guidelines for Clostridium difficile Infection in Adults and Children: 2017 Update by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA).Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2018Guideline
- Accuracy of Xpert Clostridium difficile assay for the diagnosis of Clostridium difficile infection: A meta analysis.PloS one · 2017Pooled it
- Clostridioides difficile Near-Patient Testing Versus Centralized Testing: A Pragmatic Cluster Randomized Crossover Trial.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2023Trial
- Randomized Controlled Trial of Oral Vancomycin Treatment in Clostridioides difficile-Colonized Patients.mSphere · 2021Trial
- Safety and Efficacy of Fidaxomicin and Vancomycin in Children and Adolescents with Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile Infection: A Phase 3, Multicenter, Randomized, Single-blind Clinical Trial (SUNSHINE).Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2020Trial
- Trial
- Antimicrobial susceptibility and ribotypes of Clostridium difficile isolates from a Phase 2 clinical trial of ridinilazole (SMT19969) and vancomycin.The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2018Trial
- Lab-in-a-Tube System Integrating Hierarchically Wrinkled Electrodes and DNAzyme-Functionalized Beads for Diagnosis of Clostridioides difficile Infection.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- Article
- Article
- Colonization Dynamics ofVeterinary sciences · 2026Article
- Predictors of RecurrentDiagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- A novel RNA nucleic acid amplification test more accurately distinguishes activemedRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Article
- Diagnostic challenges and treatment approaches forFrontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
134 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Clostridium difficile is a formidable nosocomial and community-acquired pathogen, causing clinical presentations ranging from asymptomatic colonization to self-limiting diarrhea to toxic megacolon and fulminant colitis. Since the early 2000s, the incidence of C. difficile disease has increased dramatically, and this is thought to be due to the emergence of new strain types. For many years, the mainstay of C. difficile disease diagnosis was enzyme immunoassays for detection of the C. difficile toxin(s), although it is now generally accepted that these assays lack sensitivity. A number of molecular assays are commercially available for the detection of C. difficile. This review covers the history and biology of C. difficile and provides an in-depth discussion of the laboratory methods used for the diagnosis of C. difficile infection (CDI). In addition, strain typing methods for C. difficile and the evolving epidemiology of colonization and infection with this organism are discussed. Finally, considerations for diagnosing C. difficile disease in special patient populations, such as children, oncology patients, transplant patients, and patients with inflammatory bowel disease, are described. As detection of C. difficile in clinical specimens does not always equate with disease, the diagnosis of C. difficile infection continues to be a challenge for both laboratories and clinicians.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.