This is part of an occasional series with members of the Peggy Lillis Foundation. Here is an opportunity to hear about people’s experiences, lessons learned, and the new treatments that can lead to hope and not the hopelessness people have been living with during their ordeals.

This is the first in an occasional series with members of the Peggy Lillis Foundation. Here is an opportunity to hear about people’s experiences, lessons learned, and the new treatments that can lead to hope and not the hopelessness people have been living with during their ordeals.

Background and Objectives: Gastrointestinal tract infections caused by Clostridioides difficile bacteria are diagnosed in pediatric patients with increasing frequency. Children treated at pediatric units are a group of patients at high risk of this infection; therefore, appropriate dif …

This report describes a case of recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) and illustrates that pharmacist's role in selecting appropriate treatment. The report discusses CDI risk factors and reviews the guidelines for the pharmacological management of CDI.

Introduction. Cancer patients with Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) are at a higher risk for adverse outcomes. In addition, a high prevalence of Clostridioides difficile asymptomatic colonization (CDAC) has been reported in this vulnerable population.Gap Statement. …

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) has significant implications for healthcare economics. Although clinical trials have compared fidaxomicin (FDX) and vancomycin, comparisons of FDX and oral metronidazole (MNZ) are limited. Therefore, we compared the therapeutic effects of FDX and oral …

Metronidazole is no longer advised for management of outpatient CDI. The preferred medication of choice for a first episode is oral vancomycin or fidaxomicin. For those patients who recur after the first episode, vancomycin taper pulse or fidaxomicin can be used. Intravenous bezlotoxumab, a monoclon …

Recently published data of bezlotoxumab dosing and safety in children with C diff was basis for expanding approval from just adults to as young as 1 years old.

Mortality rates of cases treated with metronidazole were significantly lower than untreated cases.

To maximise the potential advantages of probiotics in diarrhoea management, it is essential to examine individual circumstances and seek expert help.

Some probiotics may be beneficial in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but differences in species and strains used, as well as endpoints reported, have hampered attempts to make specific recommendations as to which should be preferred. We updated our previous meta-analysis examining this issue.

Learn about the increasing prevalence of Clostridium difficile infections in children and the emerging treatments available.

In a new Annals "Beyond the Guidelines" feature, an infectious diseases specialist and a gastroenterologist discuss the benefits and risks of different treatment approaches for Clostridioides difficile ...

The Infectious Diseases Society of America/Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and the American College of Gastroenterology recently released updated guidelines on management of patients with Clostridioides difficile infection. Although these 2 guidelines generally agree, there are …

EXPAND Cdiff international group of infectious disease specialists propose changing criteria for initial and sustained response to antibiotic treatment.

Background Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) recurrence is a public health concern as well as a health economic burden. Bezlotoxumab treatment is one way to prevent recurrence; however, its clinical results have not been reported in Japan. Therefore, we investigated the efficacy and safety of bezlotoxumab in patients with CDI at a university hospital in Japan and compared them with previously reported findings. Methodology We retrospectively examined all patients with some risk factors for recurrent CDI who received bezlotoxumab at the discretion of physicians at the Aichi Medical University Hospital, Aichi, Japan, between July 2018 and July 2022. The primary outcome was the three-month CDI recurrence rate. The secondary outcomes were an initial clinical cure and the six-month CDI recurrence rate. The safety of the administration was also assessed. Results A total of nine patients who received bezlotoxumab were included during the study period. The rate of CDI recurrence within three months was 28.5% (2/9). Two patients died due to other causes before their diarrhea improved. None of the patients experienced CDI recurrence between three and six months after the initial clinical cure of the baseline episode. Patients showed good tolerability to bezlotoxumab with no adverse effects. Two patients with a single episode of CDI recurrence before bezlotoxumab administration showed no recurrence. Conclusions In this Japanese case-series study, the efficacy of bezlotoxumab in preventing CDI recurrence in elderly patients with CDI and multiple underlying diseases was inferior to that reported in previous studies that analyzed real-world data. It is possible that bezlotoxumab may not be fully effective in elderly patients with CDI.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, are immune-mediated chronic inflammatory diseases that target the gastrointestinal tract and other distant organs. The incidence of IBDs has been rising and is more prevailing in Western communities. The etiology has been vague, but different theories include environmental factors that elicit an uncontrolled immune response, which damages internal organs. Treatment of either Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis has witnessed significant advances; however, pharmacological drugs' side effects limit their use. Research about microbiota and its influence on IBDs has gained fame, and multiple studies correlate microbiota diversity positively with IBD treatment. Many factors contribute to the microbiota's health, including different diets, antibiotics, prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, and postbiotics. Specific immune responses lie behind the pathogenesis of IBDs and microbiota dysbiosis, and different studies have postulated new ways to control this abnormal response. Physical activity, sun exposure, efficient sleep, intermittent fasting, and supplementation of probiotics and vitamins are natural ways that help modulate this immune response, do not cost money as IBD pharmacological drugs, and do not come with deleterious side effects that are sometimes more harmful than IBDs. Our article proposes a comprehensive natural approach that can benefit IBD patients enormously. This approach does not replace the medications currently used in treating IBDs. The suggested approach can be used in combination with medications and might aid in reducing the doses of those medications.

Further studies are needed to provide robust recommendations for diagnosis, grading severity, and therapeutic management of CDI in cancer patients. Recurrences are particularly concerning due to subsequent exposition to CDI risk factors.

C. difficile infection is related to wide spectrum of disease, from self-limiting diarrhea to fulminant disease that can cause toxic megacolon or pseudo-membrane colitis. Difficult approach to diagnose this disease is also problem. C. difficile infection is diagnosed when diarrhea occurred in high r …

When vancomycin hydrochloride powder (VCM powder) mixes with xanthan gum-based thickening agents in food, lumps or other property-related changes may occur. Previous studies have reported delayed disintegration and elution of the drug and its adsorption on to xanthan gum, which is the main ingredien …

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought new challenges across medical disciplines, particularly in infectious disease medicine. In Romania, the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) infection increased dramatically since March 2020 until March …

Clostridioides difficile is a Gram-positive, anaerobic, spore-forming bacillus and is a major cause of healthcare-associated infections. Whereas the vegetative form of the pathogen is susceptible to treatment with antibiotics, its ability to persist in the gut as antibiotic-resistant spores m …

Paul G. Auwaerter, MD, discusses treatment options for recurrent C difficile, including new FDA-approved fecal microbiota products.

The alarming symptoms attributed to several potent clostridial toxins enabled the early identification of the causative agent of tetanus, botulism, and gas gangrene diseases, which belongs to the most famous species of pathogenic clostridia. Although Clostridioides difficile was identified ea …

Clostridioides difficile is one of the most important causes of healthcare-associated diarrhea. The high incidence and recurrence rates of C. difficile infection, as well as its associated morbidity and mortality, are great concerns. The most common complication of C. difficile infection is recurren …

CDI was associated with elevated all-cause and cause-specific mortality, despite possible confounding by ill health. Mortality rates were consistently increased across both sexes, all age groups, and comorbidity groups.

FDA advisors recommend that future COVID-19 vaccines be monovalent, targeting XBB sublineages of the omicron variant, after data showed that bivalent vaccines are less effective against currently circulating variants.“Though we’re now at a period during which the number of new COVID-19 cases has declined, notably, we still have SARS-CoV-2 as something that could be a real concern in

Clostridioides difficile infection is associated with elevated all-cause and cause-specific mortality.

To-counter-the-economic-and-physical-cost-of-medication-associated-errors-the-FDA-has-proposed-guidelines-for-new-easy-to-read-medication-guides-known-as-Patient