Abstract
BACKGROUND: C. difficile spores are frequently isolated from hospital and non-healthcare settings but a worldwide analysis has not been done. The study objectives were to assess C. difficile spore contamination in the hospital and non-healthcare environments across a variety of countries. METHODS: Field studies assessed hospital vs. non-healthcare C. difficile spore contamination in hospitals, non-healthcare buildings, outdoor environments, and shoes. Swabs were cultured anaerobically for C. difficile and typed using PCR-fluorescent ribotyping. C. difficile contamination by swabbing area and geographic locations were compared. FINDINGS: A total of 7,857 unique samples were collected primarily from the USA (89%) in addition to 9 other countries. The global prevalence of C difficile from environmental samples was 25.3% and did not differ between countries. In USA based studies, C. difficile contamination rates were similar for healthcare buildings (23.2%), non-healthcare buildings (23.4%), and outdoor spaces (24.7%). Floor samples had significantly higher (p < 0.001) C. difficile contamination rate (46.5%) followed by non-floor samples (21.1%), and bathrooms (15.3%). In a comparison of USA to other country samples, C. difficile contamination rates were similar for USA samples (21.5%) compared to rest of world samples (22.3%; p = 0.61). The most common ribotypes included F014-020 (15.7%), F106 (12.6%), F010 (8.9%), F027 (8.8%), and F002 (8.1%) and did not differ significantly between USA and non-USA samples. Finally, 546 of 1,218 (44.8%) shoe soles swabbed from the USA were contaminated with C. difficile spores. INTERPRETATION: This large surveillance study of several countries demonstrated high prevalence of toxigenic C. difficile in non-healthcare environments with high contamination rates from floors and shoe soles.