Clostridioides difficile (also known as Clostridium difficile, C. difficile or C. diff) infection (CDI) is a symptomatic infection in the large bowel (colon) with the bacterium C. difficile leading to fever, abdominal pain and watery diarrhoea. In its most severe form it can be a life-threatening infection.
Standard therapy consists of antibiotics that specifically target C. difficile, which will cure the majority of patients, but a proportion will relapse following treatment. This risk is increased in older patients, those requiring broad-spectrum antibiotics to treat other infections, prolonged hospital stays or contact with the hospital environment, and use of proton-pump inhibitors.
Treatment with fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has been proven to reduce the risk of relapse, and is now a guideline recommended treatment for individuals who have had 3 or more episodes of CDI.
St Thomas’ hospital in London is the only NHS unit in the UK currently offering capsule FMT to treat recurrent CDI.
Watch the video below to hear about Carol’s experience.
Carol, Patient and FMT recipient
