Clostridium difficile has
been on the rise for the past 10 years, and has been known to reoccur in 20% of
treated patients. Recently there has been 6 discoveries in research for this
infection.
1. Immunocomprimised patients
successfully rid the infection with a fecal microbiota transplant. One of our
classmates did a graduate project on these types of transplants, and the many
benefits that arise from them.
2. Severity and outcomes of
these infections have improved in US urban population. This may be due in part
to clinicians following a more appropriate workup for therapy.
3. Functional changes and
microbial structure changes occurred after a fecal microbiota transplant. This
should be expected since you are changing microbial populations in the gut
environment.
4. Utilizing probiotic drinks
and withdrawing antibiotics may also resolve C. difficile infections. In some
instances it has been equally effective as a fecal transplant. Antibiotic
regimens should be slowly withdrawn while implement daily consumption of a
probiotic beverage. This can be an easy fix in non immunocompromised patients.
5. Tolevamer has been found to
be inferior to current C. difficile treatments. Tolevamer is a non-antibiotic,
toxin - binding agent that has been tested to treat C. difficile infections. It
may be used as an adjunctive treatment in the future, but for the time being it
does not successfully treat the infection.
6. Although severity and
outcomes have improved in the US, C. difficile infections have increased in
Europe since 2008. Numbers have risen from 4.12 to 7.92 cases per 10,000
patient bed days. Researching these infections and possible treatments can
hopefully change this trend.
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