Our Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene (IMED) Vienna has taken over the tasks of a National Reference Center for Clostridium difficile from 2010 and is located in the Business Unit Public Health.

• Cultivation of Clostridium difficile from stool and other test materials;
• Detection of Clostridium difficile by phenotypic and genotypic methods;
• Detection of toxigenic Clostridium difficile strains by ELISA and molecular biological methods;
• Ribotyping of all isolates;
• Resistance testing of virulent isolates and, by arrangement, participation in European interlaboratory tests, studies and projects;
• Maintenance of a reference strain collection;
• Consulting on diagnostics, epidemiology, therapy, measures and prevention;
• Reporting;

Submissions should always include information on the origin of the isolates as well as the necessary patient data, clinical and epidemiological data. Please use the appropriate submission form. Fresh cultures in transport medium with appropriate reference to medical diagnostic examination material are best suited for shipping the strains.