2410. Molecular Characteristics of Environmental Clostridioides difficile From a Large Texas Hospital

BACKGROUND: Clostridioides difficile is an anaerobic spore-forming, toxin-producing Gram-positive bacillus listed by the CDC as an “urgent threat” pathogen. Epidemiologic studies using whole-genome sequencing (WGS) have found that genetically distinct lineages infections occur in hospitalized patients, in addition to the fact that C. difficile spores persist on hospital surfaces after disinfection. The purposes of this study were to isolate and characterize C. difficile from the environment of a large Texas hospital. METHODS: We collected 330 swab samples of hospital environmental surfaces using sterile cotton gauze. The samples were then anaerobically enriched in brain heart infusion broth for 48–72 hours and plated onto cycloserine–cefoxitin fructose agar (CCFA). Suspected colonies were then genetically characterized using PCR (for tcdA, tcdB, cdtA, cdtB and tpi genes) and genotyped using fluorescent PCR ribotyping techniques. RESULTS: A total of 90/330 (27.3%) environmental samples were culture positive for C. difficile, of which 75/90 (82.1%) tested were toxigenic C. difficile by the presence of tcdA, tcdB, cdtA or cdtB. A total of 16 distinct ribotypes were identified from 41 C. difficile isolates tested using a fluorescent-ribotyping method. The predominant ribotypes isolated were F078–126 (8/41), F002 (5/41), F106 (4/41), F255 (4/41), and F014-020 (3/41). CONCLUSION: We found a diversity of C. difficile strain types in various hospital high-touch surface environment in addition to ribotype F027 and F078, suggesting the hospital environment a reservoir and significant source C. difficile infections. DISCLOSURES: All authors: No reported disclosures.