Tracking Clostridium difficile Infection

CDC is tracking and reporting national progress toward preventing C. difficile infections in many types of healthcare facilities. These programs help track the size of the problem, antibiotics used, and people at risk.

• Emerging Infections Program (EIP) – an active, population- and laboratory-based surveillance system across diverse U.S. geographic locations.
  • C. difficile Infection Tracking – national estimates based on the largest, longitudinal, U.S. population-based surveillance for C. difficile infections to date.
  • Burden of Clostridium difficile Infection in the United States
• National Healthcare Safety Network
  • All hospitals participating in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program have been reporting C. difficile infection data to NHSN since 2013.
    • Baseline data will allow continued surveillance for C. difficile infections to monitor progress towards prevention.
  • The National Healthcare Safety Network provides long-term care facilities with a customized system to track infections in a streamlined and systematic way.
  • The 2013 National and State Healthcare-Associated Infections Progress Report showed a 10 percent decrease in hospital-onset C. difficile infections between 2011 and 2013.
  • The 2012 National and State Healthcare-Associated Infections Progress Report [PDF – 24 MB] showed a 2 percent decrease in hospital-onset C. difficile infections between 2011 and 2012.
• HHS Action Plan
  • HHS set a goal of reducing hospital-onset Clostridium difficile infections nationally by 30 percent by the end of 2013.
  • New 2020 national reduction targets are being established for C. difficile.