Epidemic Ribotype 027 Lineages: Comparisons of Texas Versus Worldwide Strains.

Background: The epidemic e ribotype 027 strain resulted from the dissemination of 2 separate fluoroquinolone-resistant lineages: FQR1 and FQR2. Both lineages were reported to originate in North America; however, confirmatory large-scale investigations of ribotype 027 epidemiology using whole genome sequencing has not been undertaken in the United States.

Methods: Whole genome sequencing and single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis was performed on 76 clinical ribotype 027 isolates obtained from hospitalized patients in Texas with infection and compared with 32 previously sequenced worldwide strains.

Environmental transmission of Clostridioides difficile ribotype 027 at a long-term care facility; an outbreak investigation guided by whole genome sequencing.

Objective: This article describes a CDI outbreak in a long-term care (LTC) facility that used molecular typing techniques and whole-genome sequencing to identify widespread dissemination of the clonal strain in the environment which was successfully removed after terminal cleaning.

Setting: This study was conducted in a long-term care facility in Texas.

Methods: A recently hospitalized LTC patient was diagnosed with CDI followed shortly thereafter by 7 subsequent CDI cases.

A novel method for imaging the pharmacological effects of antibiotic treatment on Clostridium difficile.

Clostridium difficile is a significant cause of nosocomial-acquired infection that results in severe diarrhea and can lead to mortality. Treatment options for C. difficile infection (CDI) are limited, however, new antibiotics are being developed.