C. difficile is a bacterium that causes diarrhea and colitis. What precautions are mentioned to prevent its spread?

• A. Airborne precautions
• B. Contact precautions
• C. Droplet precautions
• D. Standard precautions

Answer: (B)

Infection control for organisms that spread by contact and form resilient spores requires contact precautions. C. difficile spreads mainly through contact with contaminated hands and surfaces, so protecting both patients and staff involves wearing gloves and gowns, practicing thorough hand hygiene with soap and water (since alcohol-based hand rubs aren’t reliably effective against spores), using dedicated equipment for the patient, and cleaning the environment with sporicidal agents. Standard precautions apply to everyone, but adding contact precautions specifically targets the way C. difficile is transmitted through the environment and by direct or indirect contact. Airborne precautions address spread through the air, and droplet precautions address larger respiratory droplets, neither of which are the primary routes for C. difficile.