C. Difficile

Drs Lodise and Feuerstadt discuss risk factors for C. difficile infection (CDI).

A gastroenterologist, Dr. Paul Feuerstadt, provides an overview of C. difficile infection (CDI) and vegetative and spore phases of CDI.

An FDA advisory committee will meet on September 22, 2022 to decide whether to approve a biologics license application (BLA) for Ferring’s recurrent C difficile biotherapeutic, RBX2660.

Frequent recurrence of Clostridioides difficile infection drives up financial burdens of the disease and underscores the need to improve access to treatment, infection prevention, and new therapies.

Patients with recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection saw improvements in fecal microbiome and bile acid after treatment with the investigational microbiota-based live biotherapeutic RBX2660.

People exposed to a family member recently hospitalized with C difficile infection were 73% more likely to contract CDI themselves.

Patients who took RBX2660 following antibiotic therapy had lower rates of recurrence and double the time to recurrence, compared to patients taking placebo.

The microbiota-based live therapeutic had a 68.3% success rate when administered following antibiotic treatment, versus a 55% success rate in a placebo group.

A clinician discusses the disease burden of reoccurring CDI, but sees a silver lining in the new investigational therapies potentially changing the treatment paradigm for the better.

RBX2660, an investigational microbiota-based live biotherapeutic for the treatment of C difficile, safely and effectively reduced recurrent C diff for 6 months.

With limitations on fidaxomicin at their facility, a hospital looked at vancomycin usage to determine if they needed to align with the new IDSA/SHEA CDI treatment guideline.

A team of investigators studied Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) isolates to gauge resistance in the 2 antibiotics.

Investigators sought information on how the infection is treated in outpatient clinics

In a poster presented at MAD-ID 2022, Glenn S. Tillotson, PhD, FIDSA, FCCP, shares data from the Premier Healthcare Database on more than 100,000 patients with C diff.

Colleen R. Kelly, MD, FACG, speaks at MAD-ID 2022 on alternatives to antibiotics for C diff infection, including the use of probiotics and fecal microbiota transplantation.

Tend, a startup company, has developed its Gut Microbiome Collect and Prep (CAP) to enable a standardized method for stool (microbiome) encapsulation for the procedure.

Most of the discussion around fecal microbiota transplantation has focused on bacterial communities, but new advances have shed more light on the role of the virome.

Antibiotic-resistant strains of the dangerous superbug C difficile have been identified in pigs and humans, suggesting zoonotic transmission is possible.

Improving stool sample collecting and testing reduced C difficile underdiagnosis.

About 65% of patients with metronidazole-resistant recurrent C difficile infection benefitted from taking rifaximin.

In a mouse model, the product protected against C difficile without eliminating the antibiotic’s presence in the blood.

The greatest risk factors for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) were age of at least 65 years, severe primary CDI, and use of non-CDI antibiotics. Patients with these risk factors should be prioritized for bezlotoxumab therapy.

The technology platform could speed up the development of novel therapeutics to combat virulence.

Concomitant antibiotic (CA) use for infection treatment is a major risk factor for recurrent C difficile infection. One SHEA 2022 study examined whether fidaxomicin or vancomycin would be more beneficial for CA patients.

A study found that hospital providers who prescribe unnecessarily high rates of antibiotics are likely to continue doing so over time.

In a small retrospective study, 7 of 11 patients experienced clinical improvement.

The risk of a community-acquired C difficile infection was 7-fold higher for outpatients with antibiotic exposure.

Nearly 8 in 10 patients with recurrent C. diff. Infection were successfully treated after up to 2 doses of the microbiota-based therapy.

In a case series of 18 patients, all but 3 were cured by single-donor fecal microbiota transplantation capsule therapy.

Finch Therapeutics said it is providing information to the Food and Drug Administration to explain its testing protocols.