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Micro World

How small is Clostridium difficile?

Clostridium difficile is about 4 µm long.

What is measured: spore-forming gut bacterium

Clostridium difficile (4 µm) drawn to scale beside an E. coli bacterium (2 µm) and a red blood cell (7.5 µm)
Drawn to scale, from left to right: E. coli bacterium (2 µm), Clostridium difficile (4 µm) and Red blood cell (7.5 µm).

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How big is that, really?

  • As long as about 2 E. coli bacteria end to end
  • About 53% of the width of a red blood cell
  • About 5 would fit across a cloud droplet
  • About 40× the width of a flu virus

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Facts about Clostridium difficile

Clostridium difficile forms hardy spores that survive on surfaces and resist many disinfectants.

Source: CDC: C. diff infection; ASM Microbe Library

Micro World

NameSizeCompared with Clostridium difficile
Shigella flexneri2.5 µm0.63×
Penicillium Spore3 µm0.75×
Aspergillus niger Spore4 µmsame size
Clostridium difficile4 µmthis page
Cryptosporidium parvum Oocyst5 µm1.3×
Chlorella Algae Cell5 µm1.3×
Candida albicans5 µm1.3×
Halobacterium salinarum5 µm1.3×
Thermus aquaticus5 µm1.3×
Human T Lymphocyte7 µm1.8×

Test your sense of scale

Which is bigger: Clostridium difficile or Cryptosporidium parvum Oocyst?

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