Isolation of Clostridium difficile from hospitalized patients without antibiotic-associated diarrhea or colitis.

Stool samples from 100 hospitalized patients and 21 healthy adults, obtained between March and June 1980, were cultured on a special selective medium containing cefoxitin and cycloserine to detect Clostridium difficile. This organism was isolated from 13 of the hospitalized patients and from 1 healthy subject. None of the patients with positive cultures had received antimicrobial therapy in the 3 preceding months. The observed rate of C. difficile isolation from adults not suffering from antibiotic-associated diarrhea or colitis is higher than previously reported. C. difficile culture is not recommended as a substitute for toxin assay in the evaluation of patients with intestinal disorders after antimicrobial chemotherapy.