What are the symptoms of C. difficile infection?
C. difficile infection symptoms can vary greatly in how they present in patients. Some people may have no symptoms of infection but are still capable of shedding the bacteria in their feces and infecting others – these are known as carriers (5).
The most common symptom is watery diarrhea and cramping during bowel movements. In more severe cases, patients may experience watery diarrhea up to 10-15 times a day, pus and blood in the stool, severe dehydration, fever, weight loss, nausea, vomiting, and weakness (5).
Signs of life-threatening complications of C. difficile infection are abdominal distension, severe abdominal pain, fever greater than 38.3ºC/101ºF and profuse diarrhea (5). In rare cases, patients can develop colitis [inflammation of the colon], toxic megacolon and bowel rupture, leading to sepsis [an infection of the body], organ failure, and death (3, 5).
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References
3. Napolitano LM, Edmiston CE, Jr. Clostridium difficile disease: Diagnosis, pathogenesis, and treatment update. Surgery. 2017;162(2):325-48.
5. McDonald LC, Gerding DN, Johnson S, Bakken JS, Carroll KC, Coffin SE, et al. Clinical Practice Guidelines for Clostridium difficile Infection in Adults and Children: 2017 Update by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA). Clin Infect Dis. 2018;66(7):e1-e48.