Clostridium Difficile News and Research

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Clostridium difficile is a type of bacterium found in human and animal waste. Clostridium difficile is a common cause of diarrhea that occurs in hospitals. It can also cause diarrhea or other intestinal disorders in patients treated with antibiotics.

New research provides welcomed news for countless patients taking PPIs

For patients taking proton pump inhibitors to treat gastroesophageal disease (GERD) or other acid-related conditions, new research puts safety concerns to rest.

7 Jun 2019

Stool transplant found safe and effective in children with C. difficile infections

Fecal microbiota transplant, or the transfer of stool from a healthy donor to a patient, has been found highly effective in reversing severe Clostridiodes difficile diarrheal infections in adults.

16 May 2019

United Nations sounds alarm bell on drug-resistant infections

According to a new report from a United Nations Committee, antibiotic resistance levels are at an all time high and are the reason behind common infections becoming difficult to treat.

30 Apr 2019

Feces transplantation is effective and provides economic benefits

Healthy donor feces is a life-saving therapy. In addition, the treatment provides huge cost savings. When used in the right intestines, feces transplantations saves at least USD 1.2 million (EUR 1.1 million) each time fifty patients are treated for the deadly diarrhea infection Clostridium difficile at a public hospital.

24 Apr 2019

New study provides better understanding on safety of deworming programs

A new study has identified no major differences between the microbiomes of people infected with roundworm or hookworm and uninfected peers.

23 Apr 2019

Antibiotics and PPIs may increase risk of infectious diarrhea in children

Prior antibiotic exposure and use of acid suppressing medications known as proton pump inhibitors may increase the risk for hospitalized children to contract dangerous Clostridioides difficile infections, according to a study published today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

8 Mar 2019

Medicare trims payments to 800 hospitals, citing patient safety incidents

Eight hundred hospitals will be paid less by Medicare this year because of high rates of infections and patient injuries, federal records show.

1 Mar 2019

New findings challenge existing strategies for fighting infectious diseases and germs

Do the same laws of biodiversity which apply in nature also apply to our own bodies and homes? If so, current hygiene measures to combat aggressive germs could be, to some extent, counterproductive.

22 Jan 2019

Fecal transplant from certain donors better than others

Fecal microbiota transplantation or stool transplant from a donor is useful for patients infected with the deadly recurrent Clostridium difficile that leads to severe diarrhea, pain and often serious consequences.

22 Jan 2019

New antibiotic discovery heralds breakthrough in the fight against drug-resistant bacteria

A new antibiotic developed by a Flinders University researcher is being heralded as a breakthrough in the war against a drug resistant superbug.

18 Jan 2019

AGA's new clinical guideline to help manage patients with mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis

Most patients with ulcerative colitis have mild-to-moderate disease characterized by periods of activity or remission, but practice variations exist in disease management.

10 Jan 2019

Novel technique detects new strains of microbes in human fecal microbiota after obesity surgery

Using a unique bioinformatics technique developed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, UAB researchers have detected the emergence of new strains of microbes in the human fecal microbiota after obesity surgery.

9 Jan 2019

Study offers new insight on mechanism underlying control of gene expression

Researchers have provided new insight on the mechanism underlying the control of gene expression in all living organisms, according to a study published today in eLife.

8 Jan 2019

Researchers shed new light on how to combat Shiga and ricin toxins

Min Dong, PhD, and his lab are world experts in toxins and how to combat them. They've figured out how Clostridium difficile's most potent toxin gets into cells and zeroed in on the first new botulinum toxin identified since 1969.

11 Dec 2018

Researchers elucidate infection process of bacterial pathogen Clostridium difficile

Scientists from the VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research identified the mechanisms by which the bacterial pathogen Clostridium difficile kills intestinal epithelial cells, thus destroying the protective mucosal barrier of the intestinal tract.

21 Nov 2018

Fecal microbiota transplantation effective against ICI-associated colitis

For the first time, transplanting gut bacteria from healthy donors was used to successfully treat patients suffering from severe colitis caused by treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

12 Nov 2018

Study findings may explain sporadic outbreaks of C. difficile infections in hospitals

Washing contaminated hospital bedsheets in a commercial washing machine with industrial detergent at high disinfecting temperatures failed to remove all traces of Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), a bacteria that causes infectious diarrhea, suggesting that linens could be a source of infection among patients and even other hospitals, according to a study published today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

16 Oct 2018

Gangrene-causing bacteria show promise as cancer treatment

Researchers have found that the bacteria responsible for causing gangrene could also be used to treat patients with certain cancers.

1 Oct 2018

Xenex LightStrike Germ-Zapping Robots help reduce infection rates at Martin Medical Center

Patient safety is a top priority at Martin Medical Center, which recently announced that it has seen a significant reduction in its Clostridium difficile (C.diff) infection rates since adopting Xenex LightStrike Germ-Zapping Robots as its environmental standard of care.