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In November 2008, a study was performed with support from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) to obtain an overview of Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs) in European hospitals. A collection of 398 C. difficile isolates obtained from this hospital-based survey was utilized to identify antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of common C. difficile PCR ribotypes across Europe.

The MICs of three approved therapeutic agents (vancomycin, metronidazole and fidaxomicin) and LFF571 (a novel semi-synthetic thiopeptide antibiotic) were determined by the agar dilution method.

MICs of fidaxomicin and LFF571 were in general 2–4-fold lower than those of vancomycin and metronidazole. Isolates belonging to clade 2, including the hypervirulent ribotype 027, had one-dilution higher MIC₅₀ and MIC₉₀ values for …