Abstract
Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a major source of morbidity and mortality for hospitalized patients. Although most patients have a clinical response to existing antimicrobial therapies, recurrent infection develops in up to 30% of patients. Fecal microbiota transplant is a novel approach to this complex problem, with an efficacy rate of nearly 90% in the setting of multiple recurrent CDI. This review covers the current epidemiology of CDI (including toxigenic and nontoxigenic strains, risk factors for infection, and recurrent infection), methods of diagnosis, existing first-line therapies in CDI, the role of fecal microbiota transplant for multiple recurrent CDIs, and the potential use of fecal microbial transplant for patients with severe or refractory infection.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 324-337 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | AACN advanced critical care |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 28 2016 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Byron P. Vaughn is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health Award Number UL1TR000114. He has received research support from Genentech-Roche and speaking/consulting fees from Abbvie and Janssen.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 AACN.
Keywords
- Clostridium Difficile Infection
- Fecal Microbiota Transplant
- Fecal Transplant
- Recurrent C Difficile Infection