Diagnostic Approaches for Clostridioides difficile Infection

This article offers a clinically focused overview of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) diagnosis, emphasizing the need to test only symptomatic patients and to distinguish true infection from colonization. It reviews multistep diagnostic algorithms that pair glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) test...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Infectious disease clinics of North America Vol. 39; no. 4; p. 611
Main Authors: Berry, Parul, Khanna, Sahil
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States 01.12.2025
Subjects:
Clostridioides difficile - genetics
Clostridioides difficile - isolation & purification
Clostridium Infections - diagnosis
Clostridium Infections - microbiology
Glutamate Dehydrogenase
Humans
Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques - methods
Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods
Glutamate dehydrogenase
Pseudomembranous
Clostridioides difficile infection
Multistep testing algorithm
Clostridioides difficile infection diagnosis
Diagnostic stewardship
ISSN:1557-9824, 1557-9824
Online Access:Get more information
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Summary:This article offers a clinically focused overview of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) diagnosis, emphasizing the need to test only symptomatic patients and to distinguish true infection from colonization. It reviews multistep diagnostic algorithms that pair glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) testing or nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) with toxin assays to improve accuracy. The limitations of PCR-only approaches are discussed, with a strong emphasis on clinical correlation. Guideline-based recommendations are integrated throughout, providing evidence-based direction for clinicians managing CDI in both inpatient and outpatient settings.
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ISSN:1557-9824
1557-9824
DOI:10.1016/j.idc.2025.07.014