Clostridium difficile infections in China

摘要

Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection has become one of the major hospital-associated infections in West-ern countries in the last two decades. However, there is limited information on the status of C. difficile infection inChinese healthcare settings. Given the large and increasing elderly population and the well-recognized problem ofover-prescribing of broad spectrum antibiotics in China, it is critical to understand the epidemiology and potentialrisk factors that may contribute to C. difficile infection in China. A literature review of available published studies,including those in Chinese language-based journals, was conducted. A review of the currently available literaturesuggested the presence of C. difficile infections in China, but also suggested that these infections were not particu-larly endemic. This finding should lead to better designed and greatly expanded studies to provide a more reliableepidemiologically-based conclusion on the actual status of C. difficile infection in China, including the identifica-tion of any associated risk factors. Such information is ultimately valuable to develop appropriate strategies to pre-vent C. difficile infection and the vast negative impact of such infections in China and other developing countries.