Harnessing the Healthy Gut Microbiota to Cure Patients With Recurrent C. Difficile Infection
Harnessing the Healthy Gut Microbiota to Cure Patients With Recurrent C. Difficile Infection
CDI (Clostridium difficile infection) causes diarrheal illness and can cause colitis which
 may be fatal. A patient being treated for CDI has a 10-25% chance of developing relapse.
 Recurrent CDI is on the rise. There are few options available to treat recurrent CDI. "Stool
 transplant" (infusing donor stool into the intestine of the recipient), is not very palatable
 to either patient or medical personnel. The investigators will isolate intestinal bacteria
 from donor stool and use this purified mixture of donor bacteria instead of stool transplant.
 The investigators hypothesize that this cleaner mixture of purely isolated intestinal
 bacteria from a healthy donor would be equally effective as conventional fecal
 bacteriotherapy, which uses donor stool. The use of this prepared mixture of aerobic and
 anaerobic organisms, or probiotic approach, is based on the same principle of fecal flora
 reconstitution. However our approach would provide a more controlled, reproducible, cleaner
 and more aesthetically acceptable method of administration, and from a patient safety
 perspective, would also be a safer strategy than using freshly defecated donor fecal matter.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  patients with recurrent CDI that have failed standard therapy

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  critically ill patients