Surveillance of infection severity: a registry study of laboratory diagnosed Clostridium difficile.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Changing clinical impact, as virulent clones replace less virulent ones, is a feature of many pathogenic bacterial species and can be difficult to detect. Consequently, innovative techniques monitoring infection severity are of potential clinical value.

Methods and findings

We studied 5,551 toxin-positive and 20,098 persistently toxin-negative patients tested for Clostridium difficile infection between February 1998 and July 2009 in a group of hospitals based in Oxford, UK, and investigated 28-day mortality and biomarkers of inflammation (blood neutrophil count, urea, and creatinine concentrations) collected at diagnosis using iterative sequential regression (ISR), a novel joinpoint-based regression technique suitable for serial monitoring of continuous or dichoto

SUBMITTER: Schlackow I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3409138 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature