Prevalence of Clostridium difficile environmental contamination and strain variability in multiple health care facilities.

Forty-eight environmental samples were collected from six health care facilities. Samples were cultured for the presence of clostridium difficile (C. difficile). C. difficile was cultured from 13/48 (27%) samples. Rooms housing a patient with C. difficile-associated disease (CDAD) were more likely to be culture positive than non-CDAD patient rooms (100% vs. 33%); C. difficile was not isolated outside of patient rooms (0/12 samples). The NAP1 epidemic strain was found in 5/6 facilities. American Journal of Infection Control 2007;35:315-8.