Evidence Is lacking on how best to decontaminate the hospital environment o
f Clostridium difficile. We compared sporulation levels in the UK epidemic
C difficile strain (P24), another clinical isolate (B31), and an environmen
tal strain (E4) cultured in faecal emulsion containing subinhibitory concen
trations of one of five hospital cleaning agents. The epidemic strain produ
ced significantly more spares than the nan-prevalent strains, and sporulati
on was further enhanced when this strain was cultured in faeces exposed to
non-chlorine-based cleaning agents. The choice of cleaning agent can have a
substantial effect on the persistence of C difficile spores in the hospita
l environment.