Antimicrobial susceptibility of Clostridium difficile strains isolated from hospitalised patients with acute diarrhoea.

The susceptibility of 43 Clostridium difficile strains to twelve antimicrobials was tested in vitro by agar dilution. All of the 43 strains were inhibited by low concentrations of metronidazole, penicillin G, tetracycline and ampicillin. The strains were highly resistant to gentamycin, trimethoprim, sulphamethoxazole, nalidixic acid, cycloserine, cefotaxime and uniformly sensitive to metronidazole and penicillin G whereas the activity of other antimicrobials are variable.