Wang X, Wang WY, Yu XL, Chen JW, Yang JS, Wang MK. Comprehensive review of Clostridium difficile infection: Epidemiology, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. World J Gastrointest Pharmacol Ther 2025; 16(1): 100560 [DOI: 10.4292/wjgpt.v16.i1.100560]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Ming-Ke Wang, MD, PhD, Associate Chief Physician, Naval Medical Center of People's Liberation Army, Naval Medical University, No. 338 Huaihai West Road, Changning District, Shanghai 200052, China. wmke021@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Infectious Diseases
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Xue Wang, Xue-Lu Yu, Jing-Wen Chen, Ji-Shun Yang, Ming-Ke Wang, Naval Medical Center of People's Liberation Army, Naval Medical University, Shanghai 200052, China
Wen-Yue Wang, Department of Emergency, Qinhuangdao Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Hebei Port Group Co., Ltd., Qinhuangdao 066002, Hebei Provence, China
Jing-Wen Chen, School of Pharmacy, Bengbu Medical University, Bengbu 233000, Anhui Province, China
Co-first authors: Xue Wang and Wen-Yue Wang.
Co-corresponding authors: Ji-Shun Yang and Ming-Ke Wang.
Author contributions: Wang X and Wang WY contribute equally to this study as co-first authors; Wang MK and Yang JS conceptualized, designed, and revised the manuscript; Wang X and Wang WY wrote the draft; Yu XL, and Chen JW collected the literature and revised the manuscript; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript. Both Wang MK and Yang JS conceptualized, proposed, designed, and supervised the entire process of the article, and played important and indispensable roles in the manuscript preparation and revision as the co-corresponding authors.
Supported by Scientific Research Foundation of Shanghai Municipal Health Commission of Changning District, No. 20234Y038.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declared no conflict of interest.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ming-Ke Wang, MD, PhD, Associate Chief Physician, Naval Medical Center of People's Liberation Army, Naval Medical University, No. 338 Huaihai West Road, Changning District, Shanghai 200052, China. wmke021@163.com
Received: August 20, 2024 Revised: February 16, 2025 Accepted: February 24, 2025 Published online: March 5, 2025 Processing time: 195 Days and 5.7 Hours
Abstract
In recent years, nosocomial infections caused by Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) have risen, becoming a leading cause of hospital-acquired diarrhea. The global prevalence of C. difficile infection (CDI) varies across regions and populations. The diagnosis relies primarily on laboratory testing, including toxin, glutamate dehydrogenase, and nucleic acid amplification tests. Treatment strategies for CDI include antimicrobial therapy (e.g., metronidazole, vancomycin, and fidamycin), fecal transplantation, and immunotherapy (e.g., belotozumab), depending on the patient’s specificity and severity. This paper reviews recent research on CDI’s epidemiological characteristics, risk factors, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, aiming to support hospitals and public health initiatives in implementing effective detection, prevention, and treatment strategies.
Core Tip: The incidence of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) has surpassed methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus as a common pathogen in hospitals. The high incidence, lethality, and widespread nature of CDI seriously affect patients' lives and induce a huge medical burden on the country. Therefore, it is of great significance to understand the epidemiological characteristics, risk factors, diagnosis, and treatment methods, as well as conduct targeted prevention and control of CDI in hospitals.
