Clostridium difficile

The C. difficile bacterium is responsible for the most common form of hospital-acquired diarrhea and antibiotic-associated colitis. It is highly infectious and a significant danger to the health of immunocompromised or elderly patients. The infection can be life-threatening when not caught in time to allow for appropriate therapy. In U.S. hospitals alone, current annual spending is estimated at $40 million in testing aimed at diagnosing C. difficile to provide appropriate therapy and control the spread of the disease.