Martin Novák, Henrieta Hudečková
Introduction: Clostridium difficile is most frequent cause of nosocomial infections in Slovakia, it is resistant to antibiotics and can causes severe diarrhea, which can be a serious complication in pediatric patients. Therefore, it is important to know its occurrence in children population.
Objectives: To analyze the incidence of Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) in children in Slovakia.
Methods: We used retrospective analysis of CDI in health care facilities in Slovakia for the period from January 1st. 2011 to December 31th. 2017. The group consisted of hospitalized patients in health care facilities with enterocolitis induced by Cl. difficile aged 0 to 19 years who were reported to EPIS SR.
Results: The number of cases and incidence of CDI in the pediatric population is increasing every year. The most risky group is children under one year and one to four years old. Most of the reported CDI cases were community-based.
Conclusion: Clostridium difficile infections are also a growing problem in children. It is still necessary to continue to monitor disease incidence. A rational antibiotic treatment and a special treatment regimen for infected patients is important for prevention.