Enzyme immunoassay for glutamate dehydrogenase as the screening test of Clostridium difficile infection in hospitalized adult patients at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital.
Abstract:
Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is one of the most common nosocomial infections in Thailand and worldwide. The clinical spectrum ranges from annoying diarrhea to severe life-threatening disease. Enzyme-linked immunofluorescent assay for cytotoxins A/B (cytotoxins A/B ELFA) which has been used in our institute is generally considered the test with low sensitivity for diagnosis of CDI. Our study was thus aimed to determine the diagnostic values of the new test, enzyme immunoassay for glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH EIA), for CDI. We performed a prospective study in 91 adult patients with suspected CDI who were hospitalized at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand, from December 2012 to February 2013. The results showed that of 91 patients. There were 22 CDI diagnosed by the gold standard PCR test for tcdA and tcdB genes, accounting for the prevalence of 24.2%. Of these 22 patients, GDH EIA was positive in 21 patients, accounting for the sensitivity of 95.5%. Of 69 patients without CDI, GDH EIA was negative in 46 patients, accounting for the specificity of 66.7%. The positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy were 47.7%, 97.9%, and 73.6%, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and accuracy of cytotoxins A/B ELFA were 72.7%, 95.7%, 84.2%, 91.7%, and 92.3%, respectively.