Investigation of community carriage rates of Clostridium difficile and Hungatella hathewayi in healthy volunteers from four regions of England

Faecal samples from 1365 healthy asymptomatic volunteers from four regions in England were screened for the presence of Clostridium difficile between December 2013 and July 2014. The carriage rate of C. difficile in healthy patients was 0.5%, which is lower than reported previously. This study demonstrates that the true community reservoir of C. difficile in the healthy UK population is very low and is, therefore, unlikely to be a reservoir for infections diagnosed in the hospital setting.