Absence of Clostridium difficile stool carriage in asymptomatic volunteers

Introduction / objectives Clostridium difficile is considered a leading cause of hospital-acquired diarrhea. Currently there are published case-reports of symptomatic Health-Care-Workers (HCW) and one report demonstrating transmission of C. diff from patient to HCW. Therefore, we initiated a prospective study to evaluate the prevalence of asymptomatic C. difficile stool carriage among healthcare workers at a single university hospital comparing them to nonhealthcare workers to asses the risk for HCW’s acquiring Clostridium difficile.