According to the IDSA and SHEA guidelines, clinicians should use a stool toxin test as part of a multistep algorithm (ie, glutamate dehydrogenase [GDH] plus toxin; GDH plus toxin, arbitrated by nucleic acid amplification test [NAAT]; or NAAT plus toxin) rather than NAAT alone for all specimens when there are no institutional criteria for patient stool submission.
Use NAAT alone or a multistep algorithm for testing (ie, GDH plus toxin; GDH plus toxin, arbitrated by NAAT; or NAAT plus toxin) rather than a toxin test alone when there are institutional criteria for patient stool submission.
Patients with at least three unexplained and new-onset unformed stools in 24 hours are the preferred target population for testing for CDI.
Do not perform repeat testing (within 7 days) during the same episode of diarrhea and do not test stool from asymptomatic patients, except in epidemiologic studies.
Learn more about the guidelines on CDI.
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Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: B.S. Anand. Fast Five Quiz: Antibiotic-Associated Diarrhea - Medscape - Jul 09, 2020.
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