C Difficile Test

Microbiology

Specimen

Faeces

Specimen container

Fecon pot

Special Instructions

Please ensure that stool sample pots are filled between 1/3 to 1/2 full. This is sufficient sample volume for all stool tests. Under-filling or over-filling stool sample pots may lead to samples being unsuitable for analysis.

N.B. Formed stools will not be tested for C. diffiicile

Test Usage

We perform 3 different tests (dependent on the presentation) for:

Glutamate Dehydrogenase (GDH) (ELISA) – detects presence of the C. difficile organism.
Toxin A+B (ELISA) – detects presence of the toxin
Toxin Gene (PCR) – detects presence of the gene encoding the toxin.

We will provide an interpretation dependent the combination of these results. If both GDH and toxin are detected, we consider this is likely to represent C. difficile infection, and report this to the Department of Health under the mandatory reporting scheme.

Availability

Local test

Processing Time

Within 30 hours (7 days a week)

References

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/clostridium-difficile-guidance-data-and-analysis

Specimen Labelling Procedure