Funding outcome

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is primarily characterized by loose stool induced by toxins released from C. difficile that colonize the large intestine. The increasing prevalence and morbidity of this disease raise concerns, particularly in acute or extended care hospitals where organisms may spread easily leading to outbreaks. Interestingly, the presence of C. difficile in the gut does not always lead to symptoms of CDI especially in pediatric patients below the age of two. A study on children with diarrhea conducted by the Alberta Provincial Pediatric EnTeric Infection TEam (APPETITE) detected C. difficile in both sick and healthy cohorts. The high rates of asymptomatic C. difficile detected in healthy young children make it extremely difficult to make a CDI diagnosis for this age group. Consequently, young children positive for C. difficile are typically not considered for treatment. There is limited data on using bacterial load (measurable quantity of bacteria) to determine the correlation between colonization versus CDI in children. My project will involve determining total C. difficile load in the stool of healthy control children and comparing it to the load found in patients presented with diarrhea tested positive for 1) mono detection with C. difficile or 2) co-detection with other gut pathogens. All stool samples will be tested for the presence of toxins followed by confirmation of the toxin gene using a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay. A standard curve of bacterial cell count correlating with qPCR crossing point will be constructed to determine the bacterial load. DNA will be extracted from all C. difficile toxin-positive stool samples by qPCR. The bacterial load will be calculated and analyzed for each cohort of children. This study will help the scientific community to gain a better understanding of the differences between asymptomatic and symptomatic children tested positive for C. difficile.