Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-30-2021
Publication Title
Cureus
ISSN
2168-8184
Department(s)
Department of Medicine; Fellows and Residents
Keywords
3-day rule, antimicrobial treatment decisions, c. difficile, diarrhea, molecular stool testing
Abstract
Background Acute diarrheal illness in the United States is a significant cause of healthcare utilization and hospitalizations. For patients who develop diarrhea while hospitalized, testing for pathogens other than () using conventional stool testing is low yield. Newer testing modalities for infectious diarrhea such as themultiplex molecular stool testing provide an improved detection rate and a faster turn-around time compared to conventional stool testing. Methods We retrospectively examined the use of a multiplex molecular stool test at our institution for all hospital encounters over a two-year period to determine which organisms were identified ≤ 3 days and > 3 days after admission. Results A total of 2032 patients underwent multiplex molecular stool testing during the study period, with 1698 (83.6%) performed ≤ 3 days and 334 (16.3%) > 3 days after admission. An enteric non- pathogen was identified more frequently when patients were tested ≤ 3 days after admission (350, 20.6%) as compared to > 3 days after admission (38, 11.4%, 3 days after admission (64, 20.3%) versus another organism (30, 9.0%) ( 3 days after admission, a bacterial pathogen amenable to treatment was only identified in 6% (21) of patients. Conclusion Multiplex molecular stool testing for patients tested > 3 days after admission is a low yield of information that could guide antimicrobial treatment decisions, and testing is more useful in this clinical situation.
Volume
13
Issue
4
First Page
e14784
DOI
10.7759/cureus.14784
PubMed ID
34084686
Recommended Citation
Aleem, A., Firak, G., & Slenker, A. (2021). Multiplex Molecular Stool Testing Rarely Impacts Antimicrobial Treatment Decisions More Than Three Days After Admission. LVHN Scholarly Works. Retrieved from https://scholarlyworks.lvhn.org/research-historical-works/71
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.14784