MICROSCOPIC IN MACROSCOPIC MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CLOSTRIDIUM DIFFICILE

Bakterija Clostridium difficile je najpogostejši povzročitelj bolnišničnih črevesnih infekcij. V zadnjem času v epidemiologiji okužb prihaja do sprememb, saj pogostnost in resnost bolezni narašča tudi zunaj bolnišničnega okolja. Bakterija je splošno razširjena zaradi zmožnosti tvorbe spor, kontaminacija okolja s sporami pa je ključni dejavnik za okužbo z bakterijo C. difficile (CDIangl. Clostridium difficile infection). V diplomskem delu so nas zanimale morfološke značilnosti kolonij (oblika, velikost, barva, površina in oblika roba) ter morfološke značilnosti celic izbranih sevov bakterije Clostridium difficile. Morfologijo smo primerjali na treh trdnih gojiščih (COH, CLO, CDALT) z uporabo stereolupe in svetlobne mikroskopije. Ugotovili smo, da sta si rast in tvorba vidnih kolonij na različnih trdnih gojiščih istega seva zelo podobni, medtem ko se nekateri sevi med seboj razlikujejo. Ugotovili smo tudi, da je pri nekaterih sevih delež prostih spor večji kot delež spor, ki so še znotraj vegetativnih celic, in obratno. Namen dela je bil ugotoviti, ali je morfologija kolonij odvisna od posameznega PCR-ribotipa in ali se kolonije razlikujejo na različnih trdih gojiščih.Clostridium difficile is the most important cause of nosocomial intestinal infections. Recently the frequency and seriousnes of the disease is increasing also outside of the hospital environment. The bacterium is widspread because of its ability to form spores and contamination of the environment with spores is common factor of infection with Clostridium difficile (CDIClostridium difficile infection). In Graduation Thesis we were interested in morphological characteristics of colonies (shape, size, colour, surface and the shape of the edge) and morphological characteristisc of cells of selected strains of Clostridium difficile. We have compared the morphology on three diferent solid media (COH, CLO, CDALT) with the use of the stereomicroscope and light microscopy. The appearance of colonies on different solid media of single strain is very similar, whereas some strains differ to each other. We also found that in some strains the percentage of exospores is higher than the percentage of endospores and vice versa. The purpose of my Graduation Thesis was to determine if the colony morphology is associated with ribotype and if colonies differ on different solid media