[Presence of lactoferrin in faeces as the indicator of Clostridium difficile in pediatric patients].

Introduction: Number of infection caused by Clostridium difficile in hospitalized children is increasing. Even though children unlike adults seldom develop complications after being ill, cases of persistent diarrhoea triggered by this pathogen and mortality from this origin have been reported. At present the important problem constitute differentiation between the colonization and infection limiting the proper diagnosis of C. difficile infections (CDI) in this age group. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of lactoferrin in faeces as the inflammatory marker confirming C. difficile infections in children.

Methods: Seventy seven samples of faeces where examined. Among them in 55 toxin A/B or C. difficile toxinogenic strain and in 15 nontoxinogenic C. difficile had been detected, 7 were collected from healthy children. Stool samples were tested with the use of method routinely applied in laboratory: automatic VIDAS C. difficile Toxin A&B test (bioMerieux, France), culture and GDH test. Lactoferrin in stool has been identified with ELISA IBD-SCAN test (Techlab, Blacksburg, VA). The CRP protein was detected with VITROS 5600.

Results: Among 55 children with CDI lactoferrin was detected in 45,5% (25/55) of them. In 30 (54,5%) CDI patients the inflammatory biomarker was not identified. In 15 persons with nontoxinogenic strain cultured, one child had lactoferrin present. CDI was detected most frequently (51%) in 6-11 years old children. The increase of CDI cases was observed in period 2013-2014. Neither differences in frequency of raised CRP level in examined groups of children nor correlation between presence of lactoferrin and CRP was observed.

Conclusions: Lactoferrin an intestinal inflammatory biomarker may be a useful tool in distinguishing between C. difficile infection and colonization. More studies including clinical observations are needed.