Authors: James Hamuel Doughari, Nafisat Adamu Kachalla, Chanji Jude Fidelis
Clostridium difficile is a common cause of antibiotic associated diarrhea with increased role of environment as a source of contamination. Clostridium difficile spores are resistant to disinfectant surviving for months or years on contaminated surfaces. Presence of C. difficile in the environment by enrichment and culturing of soil samples on Cycloserine Cefoxitin fructose medium (CCFM) was carried out. Ten (10) soil samples each were collected from different refuse dump sites in schools, markets, residential wards and hospitals within Yola North Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Nigeria. Out of the 40 samples, 25% (10) harbored C. difficile and 37.5% (15) yielded growth of unidentified bacteria. Hospital environments had the highest prevalence of 50% and school environments were found to be free of C. difficile spores. Prevalence of C. difficile is significantly (P₌0.05, ) associated with environment-based activities. Minimum inhibitory concentrations of isolates using five antibiotics showed that only 60% of the hospital-based isolates were susceptible to tetracycline and the rest resistant to the other four antibiotics used. C. difficile isolated from market dump sites were susceptible to all antibiotics tested. None of the residencebased isolates were resistant to metronidazole; however, 66.7% were susceptible to erythromycin and tetracycline.
This study indicates that C. difficile has become an emerging pathogen in Nigeria. Increased understanding of the factors leading to outbreaks of C. difficile is partinent.