New data show that England and Wales have experienced a sustained increase in the number of death certificates mentioning Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) in recent years, including a dramatic 72% increase from 2005 to 2006 (Office for National Statistics, May 2008). C. difficile is one of the major causes of hospital-acquired infections. At any one time, over 1.4 million people worldwide are suffering from infections acquired in hospital*.

Lab M's Brazier CCEY agar, which is based on the market leading Fastidious Anaerobe Agar, provides rapid and reliable detection of this disease-causing bacterium.

Brazier CCEY agar, part of Lab M's range of culture media for anaerobic organisms, is the formulation used by the Anaerobe Reference Laboratory for the isolation of C. difficile. Based on the gold standard Fastidious Anaerobe Agar, Brazier CCEY incorporates several additional ingredients to improve the isolation and differentiation of C. difficile from clinical specimens, these include: cholic acid to promote spore germination following alcohol shock treatment; and horse blood to optimise recognition of colony fluorescence when examined with UV light.

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 ranging from diarrhoea to severe inflammation of the bowel, which can be life-threatening.

Reference:
*Global Patient Safety Challenge: 2005-2006, World Alliance for Patient Safety, WHO 2005