1.
Fecal transplant in refractory Clostridium difficile colitis.
Kleger, A, Schnell, J, Essig, A, Wagner, M, Bommer, M, Seufferlein, T, Härter, G
Deutsches Arzteblatt international. 2013;(7):108-15
Abstract
BACKGROUND Clostridium difficile infections are becoming more common, more severe, and more likely to recur. Conventional treatment with antibiotics often fails to eradicate the infection; even when it succeeds, recurrent infection is common. Complementary treatment with probiotic agents to reconstitute the physiological intestinal flora does not yield any consistent benefit. In recent years, fecal transplantation has been used in the English-speaking countries with cure rates of about 87%, but the available evidence is limited to large case series. No randomized controlled trials have been performed. We present the case of a 73-year-old woman with intractable, recurrent enterocolitis due to Clostridium difficile who was successfully treated with fecal transplantation via colonoscopy. CASE DESCRIPTION Upon the completion of antibiotic treatment for a second recurrence of enterocolitis, stool in liquid suspension was introduced into the patient's colon through a colonoscope. Prior testing had shown the stool donor to be free of acute infection or stool pathogens. The patient was given loperamide to prolong contact of the stool transplant with the colonic mucosa. She was also treated with Saccharomyces cerevisiae for four weeks. COURSE There was no clinical or microbiological evidence of a further recurrence of enterocolitis for 6 months after transplantation. Stool transplantation had no adverse effects. CONCLUSION This patient had a lasting remission of enterocolitis due to Clostridium difficile after the treatment described above. Fecal transplantation seems to be a safe and highly effective treatment for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection. It is unclear whether the administration of Saccharomyces cerevisiae confers any additional benefit.
2.
Fecal bacteriotherapy for relapsing Clostridium difficile infection in a child: a proposed treatment protocol.
Russell, G, Kaplan, J, Ferraro, M, Michelow, IC
Pediatrics. 2010;(1):e239-42
Abstract
Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a potentially serious emerging infectious disease. The incidences of CDI in childhood and CDI cases complicated by relapses have increased by 50% or more in North America during the past 2 decades. We report here the case of a 2-year-old child with relapsing CDI caused by the epidemic strain BI/NAP1/O27 that was refractory to Saccharomyces boulardii and Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG probiotics and to intensive therapy with traditional (metronidazole, vancomycin) and experimental (rifaximin, nitazoxanide) antibiotics despite its apparent antimicrobial-susceptible phenotype. After excluding other infectious causes of diarrhea and inflammatory bowel disease, we designed a protocol to safely administer fecal bacteriotherapy via a temporary nasogastric tube. We demonstrated for the first time that fecal transplantation is practical and effective for treating relapsing CDI in a young child. We recommend that this strategy be reserved for complicated cases of CDI that fail conventional therapy until randomized studies can confirm the safety and effectiveness of fecal bacteriotherapy in children.