[Clostridium difficile: a typing method for epidemiological studies].

One hundred and twenty two strains of Clostridium difficile were studied: 33 strains were isolated from stools of neonates or children, 89 cases of antibiotic associated diarrhea. The strains were identified by biochemical tests and gaz liquid chromatography of the fermentation products. A typing scheme for Clostridium difficile were proposed by using a polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of whole cell proteins. We studied the correlation between this typing and the serogrouping scheme based on slide agglutination with a rabbit antisera and previously described by Delmée. The serogrouping defines 10 groups, PAGE allows the differentiation of 12 profiles, with a good correlation between the two methods for some serogroups except for the heterogenous serogroup A.