Patients who undergo emergency general surgery have a high incidence of Clostridium difficile infection, a study published in Surgical Infections found.
The researchers looked at 550 patients with emergency general surgery between 2008 and 2015 to find C. diff risk factors.
The total C. diff incidence was 12.7 percent, the researchers found. There was no significant difference in demographics between C. diff positive and negative patients.
The study also found patients who received three or more antibiotic classes were at higher risk of C. diff developing post-operatively (83 percent vs. 75 percent).
"Clinicians should have a high index of suspicion and low threshold for testing C. difficile in high-risk [emergency general surgery] patients," the researchers concluded.