Surveillance snapshot of XXXX infection in hospitals across Queensland detects binary toxin producing ribotype UK 244.

@entity1 @entity1528 @entity6659 @entity2718 @entity204
In North America and Europe, the binary toxin positive @entity2718 strains of the ribotypes 027 and 078 have been associated with @entity204 , toxic @entity1528 and other adverse outcomes. Following an increase in @entity2718 infections (CDIs) in Queensland, a prevalence study involving 175 hospitals was undertaken in early 2012, identifying 168 cases of @entity6659 over a 2 month period. @entity1 demographics and clinical characteristics were recorded, and @entity2718 isolates were ribotyped and tested for the presence of binary toxin genes. Most @entity1 (106/168, 63.1_#37;) were aged over 60 years. Overall, 98 (58.3_#37;) developed symptoms after hospitalisation; 89 cases (53.0_#37;) developed symptoms more than 48 hours after admission. Furthermore, 27 of the 62 (67.7_#37;) @entity1 who developed symptoms in the community ad been hospitalised within the last 3 months. Thirteen of the 168 (7.7_#37;) cases identified had severe disease, resulting in admission to the Intensive Care Unit or @entity204 within 30 days of the onset of symptoms. The 3 most common ribotypes isolated were UK 002 (22.9_#37;), UK 014 (13.3_#37;) and the binary toxin-positive ribotype UK 244 (8.4_#37;). The only other binary toxin positive ribotype isolated was UK 078 (n = 1). Of concern was the detection of the binary toxin positive ribotype UK 244, which has recently been described in other parts of Australia and New Zealand. No isolates were of the international epidemic clone of ribotype UK 027, although ribotype UK 244 is genetically related to this clone. Further studies are required to track the epidemiology of ribotype UK 244 in Australia and New Zealand. Commun Dis Intell 2014;38(4):E279-E284.
