Objective: Clostridium difficile is the most common cause of antibiotic-associated and nosocomial diarrhea. Although there are various methods for the investigation of the presence of this pathogen, the most preferred method for the detection of toxin is ELISA. In this study, it was aimed to investigate C. difficile toxin positivity and its relation with the number of patients and duration of stay in the hospital, in samples of patients with the initial diagnosis of antibiotic-associated diarrhea who were referred to the hospital of Uludağ University Faculty of Medicine between 2008-2011.

Materials and Methods: C. difficile toxin detected in a total of 2515 stool samples which were sent to the Microbiology Laboratory of Uludağ University Medical Faculty Hospitals between 2008 and 2011, were reviewed retrospectively. Stool samples were obtained from 1829 patients with diarrhea. These cases were reviewed in categories of age groups, adult/child, in-patient/outpatient and the relation of the number of toxin positive cases and toxin positivity with number of patients and duration of stay at the hospital were investigated. C. difficile toxin A/B was detected by ELISA (TOX A/B QUIK CHEK, Techlab, USA).

Results: C. difficile toxin positivity was found in 87 (4.8%) patients and it was detected that the number of C. difficile toxin-positive cases significantly decreased over years. The incidence of diarrhea due to C. difficile, was 0.07 for 1000-day stay at the hospital and 0.5 for 1000 patient-admitted to the hospital.

Conclusion: In order to decrease the risk of infection due to C. difficile, which is an important agent of nosocomial gastroenteritis, adequate infection control measures and appropriate antibiotic use policies should be implemented. Appropriate treatment of the patients requires accurate and prompt diagnosis of C. difficile toxin in suspected cases.