Two rapid methods of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) diagnosis were compared between June 2012 and March 2013: a GeneXpert (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, Calif) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test and an enzyme immunoassay (EIA). The influence of these methods on the detection of hospital-acquired CDI and identification of CDI outbreaks was evaluated. We tested 1,592 stool samples for C difficile. The GeneXpert PCR test identified 211 positive samples (68 determined to be hospital-acquired infection), whereas EIA identified 105 positive samples (36 determined to be hospital-acquired infection). The GeneXpert PCR method in contrast to the EIA method increased the detection rates of nosocomial CDI cases and contributed to the declaration of CDI outbreaks.
