Clostridium difficile

Matthew Capowski

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Staff member
Herbalist
This thread will be used to discuss C. diff

Saccharomyces boulardii is a yeast that is used a probiotic and I have seen several references to its use in the treatment of c. difficile. I am going to look into its use further.

A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial of Saccharomyces boulardii in Combination With Standard Antibiotics for Clostridium difficile Disease: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=375521

This study found that:

A history of CDD episodes dramatically increased the likelihood of further recurrences. Multivariate analysis revealed that patients treated with S boulardii and standard antibiotics had a significantly lower relative risk (RR) of CDD recurrence (RR, 0.43; 95% confidence interval, 0.20 to 0.97) compared with placebo and standard antibiotics. The efficacy of S boulardii was significant (recurrence rate 34.6%, compared with 64.7% on placebo; P=.04) in patients with recurrent CDD, but not in patients with initial CDD (recurrence rate 19.3% compared with 24.2% on placebo; P=.86). There were no serious adverse reactions associated with S boulardii.

A study suggesting that antibiotics create the conditions for C. diff to thrive by destroying helpful bacteria that are involved in secondary bile acid production:

Antibiotic-Induced Alterations of the Gut Microbiota Alter Secondary Bile Acid Production and Allow for Clostridium difficile Spore Germination and Outgrowth in the Large Intestine: http://msphere.asm.org/mSphere.00045-15-abstract.php
 
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