Clostridium Difficile in Young Children

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Abstract
Clostridium difficile was isolated from the stools of 11/52 (21 %) of children aged 0 to 2 years hospitalized with diarrhoea, and from 17/52 (33 %) of a control group of hospitalized children with no diarrhoea; this difference was not significant. Direct demonstration of C. difficile toxin from the stools was positive in 1 case with diarrhoea and in 5 control cases. The children with positive stool culture for C. difficile had had significantly more treatments with antibiotics or chemotherapeutics than those with negative C. difficile culture (3.3 ± 2.7 vs. 1.6 ± 1.8, p < 0.001), but there was no significant difference in the incidence of diarrhoea in the past. During a 4–6‐month follow‐up, C. difficile disappeared from the stools of 24 out of 28 initially culture‐positive children; 3 of the 4 children with persistent C. difficile had received antibiotics during the follow‐up period. We conclude that the presence of C. difficile is common in the stools of young children up to the age of 2 years, and that C. difficile is more frequently found in children who have received antimicrobial therapy. Most cases of C. difficile carriage state are symptomless at this age.