Molecular test based on isothermal helicase-dependent amplification for detection of the Clostridium difficile toxin a gene

Abstract

The AmpliVue Clostridium difficile assay and a glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH)-illumigene algorithm were evaluated using 308 diarrheal stool specimens of patients suspected of having C. difficile infection. Compared to the enriched toxigenic culture method, the sensitivities, specificities, and positive and negative predictive values of the AmpliVue C. difficile assay and the GDH-illumigene-based algorithm were 91.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 76.4 to 97.8), 100% (95% CI, 98.3 to 100), 100% (95% CI, 87 to 100), and 98.9% (95% CI, 96.6 to 99.7), respectively. Copyright © 2014, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.