Detecting and isolating Clostridium difficile (C. diff) carriers upon admission to the hospital can a significantly decrease the incidence of health care-associated C. diff infection (HA-CDI), according to a study published in the June issue of JAMA Internal Medicine. The authors say C. diff screening upon admission is an easily implemented and effective strategy for preventing HA-CDI. It is estimated that there are half a million cases of C. diff in the United States annually, causing 29,000 deaths. But, current control measures do not target asymptomatic carriers, despite evidence that they can contaminate the hospital environment and cause health care-associated infection. The Québec Heart and Lung Institute had endemic C. diff infection, despite “significant” efforts to control it. So, in 2013 the facility adopted a policy to detect and isolate asymptomatic carriers. The present study reports the effects of implementation. The intervention of screening asymptomatic patients admitted through the emergency department occurred Nov. 19, 2013, through March 7, 2015. Identified carriers were placed under infection control measures similar to those for C. diff infection, but tailored to minimize the effect on bed management and work flow. Admission screening was conducted to test for the tcdB gene using polymerase chain reaction […]