Fecal Microbiota Transplant Versus Vancomycin for Treatment of Initial Clostridium Difficile Infection

Investigators designed an open, two-arm study to compare oral vancomycin with an FMT-FURM as treatments for the first Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) episode among hospitalized patients. From each patient, a fecal sample was obtained at days 0, 3, and 7 after treatment. Specimens are cultured to isolate C. difficile, and C. difficile are assessed for the presence of genes encoding enterotoxin (tcdB), cytotoxin (tcdA), the binary toxin A (cdtA), binary toxin B (cdtB), and deletions within the negative regulator of toxin A and B production (tcdC) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of ciprofloxacin, moxifloxacin, erythromycin, clindamycin, vancomycin, metronidazole, linezolid, fidaxomicin, and tetracycline against C. difficile are measured using the agar dilution method. Fecal samples and FMT-FURM are analyzed by 16 subunit ribosomal ribonucleic acid (16S rRNA) metagenomic sequencing.