A study published in Epidemiology & Infection found recent antibiotic use was strongly linked to the onset of community-associated Clostridioides difficile infections in young children.
The research team enrolled children between the ages of 1 and 5 years from eight U.S. sites between October 2014 and February 2016. They matched children with a positive C. diff specimen to a control group. The C. diff patients had not been admitted to a healthcare facility in the 12 weeks prior, nor did they have a history of C. diff infection. There were 68 pairs of patients in the study.
The following factors were more common among C. diff patients compared to controls:
● A comorbidity (33.3 percent among C. diff patients versus 12.1 percent among controls)
● Recent antibiotic use (54.4 percent versus 19.4 percent)
● Recent higher-risk outpatient exposures (34.9 percent versus 17.7 percent)
● Recent exposure to a household member with diarrhea (41.3 percent versus 21.5 percent)
Researchers also found antibiotic exposure in the prior 12 weeks was significantly associated with community-associated C. diff infection.