Clostridium difficile is a bacterium responsible for the majority of infectious nosocomial diarrhea in adults. Present in our intestinal flora, it wakes up and develops in some people when taking certain antibiotics (such as amoxicillin, clindamicyne and cephalosporins). It then causes diarrhea accompanied by fever and severe abdominal pain resembling cramps.
In cases of mild infection, doctors wait for it to go away on its own. But when the Clostridium difficile bacteria show resistance, then another treatment with antibiotics must be set up.
Sensitive souls refrain
This is where fecal transplantation comes in. To treat nosocomial Clostridium infections, researchers from the Infectious Diseases Department, Boston General Hospital (USA) have found that transplanting stools from healthy donors can “occupy the field” and therefore , to heal (the bacteria no longer have room to proliferate). Until now, the only possible mode of transplantation has been through enemas. But the researchers came up with the idea of freezing this mixture and encapsulating it in capsules. The test was performed on 20 patients hospitalized with severe Clostridial infection refractory to any treatment with antibiotics. The capsules were transplanted by nasogastric tube.
They were then followed for 6 months. After treatment, 14 of the 20 patients no longer had any symptoms of the infection. The others were cured after a second transplant, bringing the overall percentage of clinical resolution of symptoms to 90%.
