ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the carrying status and characteristics of Clostridium difficile isolated from infants.Methods Two hundred and thirty-eight stool specimens were collected from infant younger than 1 year old,that were hospitalized or outpatient from August to November 2015.Immunochromatography targeted GDH and toxin A&B of C.difficile was used for C.difficile screening,and those positive specimens were inoculated in CDIF and anaerobic culture.C.difficile isolates were genotyped by using slpA sequence typing (slpA ST),and tcdA,tcdB,cdtA and cdtB of C.difficile isolates were detected by PCR.Results Fifty C.difficile strains were isolated from 238 stool samples,and the isolated rates of C.difficile from <3 months,3 months to <6 months,and 6 months to 1 years old groups were 9.3%,17.6% and 27.3%(χ2=6.940,P=0.031<0.05),respectively.52.0%(26/50) of the C.difficile isolates were toxigenic,and 69.2% (18/26) toxigenic isolates harbored tcdA+tcdB+cdtA-cdtB-.Fifty C.difficile isolates were genotyped as 11 slpA STs,slpA ST fr-02 and kr-02 were the commonest genotypes in toxigenic C.difficile isolates;however,that was slpA ST xr-03 in non-toxigenic isolates.Conclusion High C.difficile carriage is found in infants younger than 1 year old,and more than half of C.difficile isolates are toxigenic.Most of toxigenic isolates harbored toxin A and B.The genotype of C.difficile isolates is different between toxigenic isolates and non-toxigenic isolates.