Study population and assembly of patients: Subjects will be drawn from 20 participating adult, tertiary Canadian hospitals. All patients with Clostridium difficile infection who are being evaluated for surgery are eligible for this study. Subject identification will be carried out by the attending surgeon on call, eligibility will be evaluated, and patients will be approached for study participation. Consent for the study will be obtained from the subject or a legally authorized representative (the legal representative must be a court-appointment mandatory, curator or tutor). Vulnerable patients with pre-existing incapacity to consent and who do not have a legally authorized representative will be excluded. In contrast, some subjects may have a late presentation of FCDC and therefore may lack the physical and mental capacity to provide an independent informed consent. At this time, the consent for the study will be obtained by the next of kin (next of kin will be defined as in Civil Code of Québec). When and if the subject recovers, consent will be obtained by him/her at that time. Enrolment into the trial will be in accordance with the Civil Code of Québec (articles 15, 20, 21) (6) QC notation.