New Treatment for C. Diff. May Cause More Intense Rebound

A new study led by researchers at UNC found that a “newly-approved treatment for C. diff. infection, called fecal microbiota spores, may be associated with a particularly harmful rebound of infection.”

C. diff. is one of the most common “bad” bacteria that can enter the digestive tract when we take antibiotics. About 500,000 Americans contract the infection each year, “especially those who are immunocompromised or over the age of 65.”

Fecal microbiota transplant has been used as a treatment for C. diff. for a little over a decade. The procedure involves “transplanting a small sample of stool from a healthy person into a colon infected with C. diff. to help restore balance in the gut.” A novel non-invasive treatment called fecal microbiota spores was approved by the FDA in 2023.

The study in question found that “both methods were efficient at preventing recurrent infection. However, in the rare patients who had a recurrence, the patients who received fecal spores were more likely to develop severe disease, called ‘fulminant C. diff. infection.” Two of the 28 patients who received spores were admitted to the hospital with fulminant infection, compared to zero of the 102 who received the traditional fecal transplant.