In February 2016 the study of Clostridium difficile began. This research is being developed worldwide since 3 years ago and it is the result of a series of previous research for the development of a vaccine to prevent diarrhea associated with Clostridium difficile infection.

This research is of great importance for the Costa Rican population by the potential benefit in preventing an episode of symptomatic C. difficile infection by applying a vaccine. It will also be applied to the population over 50 years old who has a higher risk of contracting the bacteria and has more severe complications.

In the case of Costa Rica, in late 2008 and early 2009, in the San Juan de Dios Hospital, there was a nosocomial outbreak of this bacterium. This outbreak had a recurrence rate of 13.6% and mortality was of 9.9%. Some of the risk factors for developing infection are: being exposed to the bacteria, such as hospital patients, the use of antibiotics, the severity of diarrheal symptoms, patient comorbidities and age, as people over 40 years old had longer diarrhea episodes.

For this reason people who have been hospitalized more than twice in the previous year and those who have planned any surgery requiring hospitalization for several days are invited to participate.