Summary of Available Tests for Clostridium difficile Infection, in Decreasing Order of Sensitivity • Toxigenic culture - Sens High, Spec Low, Detects Clostridium difficile vegetative cells or spores • Nucleic acid amplification tests - Sens High, Spec Low/moderate, Detects C. difficile nucleic acid (toxin genes) • Glutamate dehydrogenase - Sens High, Spec Low, Detects C. difficile common antigen • Cell culture cytotoxicity neutralization assay - Sens High, Spec High, Detects Free toxins • Toxin A and B enzyme immunoassays - Sens Low, Spec Moderate, Detects Free toxins #Clostridium #difficile #CDiff #laboratory #diagnosis #testing #sensitvity #specificity
