Clinical Outcomes of Patients With Clostridium Difficile Associated Disease Attributable to Diverse tcdC Genotypes

The purpose of the study is to establish the clinical disease outcomes and features of CDAD associated with variant tcdC genotypes. Two hypotheses are to be tested in this study: 1. Severe CDAD and tcdC truncation: Severe CDAD (defined by death and/or colectomy or secondary endpoints) is associated with severe truncations (\> 6 amino acid residues) in TcdC, a negative regulator of toxin A/B production. 2. Disease in low risk populations (patients never exposed to health care facilities and/or patients who never received antibiotics) of any severity is attributable to strains of C. difficile with severe tcdC truncation.