22 September 2006

Clostridium difficile remains one of the most important causes of hospital-acquired infection. Lab M’s range of culture media for anaerobic organisms includes Brazier CCEY agar and Fastidious Anaerobe Agar.

Brazier CCEY agar is the formulation used by the Anaerobe Reference Laboratory for the isolation of C. difficile. Based on the market leading anaerobe medium Fastidious Anaerobe Agar, it incorporates additional ingredients to improve the isolation and differentiation of C. difficile from clinical specimens.

Present in the gut of a small percent of healthy adults and a larger proportion of children C. difficile is usually kept in check by the normal bacterial population. However, disturbance of the gut flora, through the use of certain antibiotics for example, can result in rapid multiplication and toxin production by C. difficile, leading to illness. When transmitted to vulnerable patients it produces symptoms of varying severity from diarrhoea to severe inflammation of the bowel, which can be life-threatening.