RIDA®QUICK Clostridium difficile Toxin A/B

Intended use:

For in vitro diagnostic use. RIDA®QUICK Clostridium difficile Toxin A/B is an immunochromatographic rapid assay for the qualitative determination of the toxins A and B of Clostridium difficile in stool samples and in culture supernatants.

General information:

Diarrhoea illnesses are a relatively frequent side effect of antibiotic therapies. However, more severe forms of the illness have been occurring more frequently, particularly since the introduction of clindamycin at the beginning of the 70’s, and can even produce a severe clinical picture of the pseudo membranous colitis (PMC). This antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (AAD) is essentially caused by Clostridium difficile and therefore also called Clostridium difficile associated diarrhoea (CDAD). It is one of the most common nosocomial infections in the industrial nations. The carrier rate of hospitalised patients has now risen to 16-35 %. Strains with an increasing virulence due to particular pathogenicity mechanisms have now become known and have made a Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) a major cost factor in health care.

The production of Toxin A and B by toxinogenic strains of Clostridium difficile is of primary aetiological importance for the clinical picture of the illness. These toxin proteins, each of which has high molar masses of around 300 kDa can be distinguished by their immunology and functionality. Toxin A is an enterotoxin whereas Toxin B is a cytotoxin. Both toxins can operate on their own or synergistically. Since not all strains of Clostridium difficile form toxins and approx. 2-8 % of healthy adults and up to 80 % of children under the age of 2 years may be parasitised with Clostridium difficile, the determination of Toxins A and B in stool samples in conjunction with the appearance of a CDAD is primarily of crucial importance for the diagnosis and decision about treatment.

The RIDA®QUICK Clostridium difficile Toxin A/B is a rapid assay for determining Toxin A and Toxin B, specifically and simultaneously, in the stool samples of patients using monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies. The test produces a reliable result after only 15 minutes and enables effective therapeutic measures to be taken promptly.