By Mark H. Wilcox, MD, FRCPath
Recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) places a considerable burden on patients, health care institutions, and society. In the United States in 2011, the estimated numbers of primary CDI cases and first recurrences were 453,000 and 83,000, respectively; this represents a recurrence rate of 18.3%.1
This is likely an underestimate of the true recurrence rate because to be counted, a repeat laboratory test had to be performed; therefore, patients with