Arch Intern Med
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Prevalence and pathogenicity of Clostridium difficile in hospitalized patients. A French multicenter study.
Although Clostridium difficile is the main agent responsible for nosocomial diarrhea in adults, its prevalence in stool cultures sent to hospital microbiology laboratories is not clearly established. ⋯ This multicenter period prevalence study clearly supports the hypothesis of a common role of C difficile in infectious diarrhea in hospitalized patients. Disease associated with C difficile should therefore be systematically evaluated in diarrheal stools from inpatients.