Rapid identification of Clostridium difficile by toxin detection.

Rapid identification of Clostridium difficile in a stool specimen could be accomplished within 24 h by detection of toxin elaborated in an agar or broth culture containing cycloserine and cefoxitin. Broth culture seemed to give a more rapid and sensitive result than the agar plate culture. For cultivation of C. difficile in stool, we recommend the use of chopped meat broth and blood agar plate, the former for toxin detection in 1 to 2 days and the latter for colonial morphology and isolation of a pure culture.