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bClostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a gastrointestinal disease caused by C. difficile, a spore-forming bacterium that in its spore form is tolerant to standard antimicrobials. Ramoplanin is a glycolipodepsipeptide antibiotic that is active against C. difficile with MICs ranging from 0.25 to 0.50 g/ml. The activity of ramoplanin against the spores of C. difficile has not been well characterized; such activity, however, may hold promise, since posttreatment residual intraluminal spores are likely elements of disease relapse, which can impact more than 20% of patients who are successfully treated. C. difficile spores were found to be stable in deionized water for 6 days. In vitro spore counts were consistently below the level of detection for 28 days after even brief (30-min) exposure to ramoplanin at concentrations found in feces (300 g/ml). In contrast, suppression of spore counts was not observed for metronidazole or vancomycin at human fecal concentrations during treatment (10 g/ml and 500 g/ml, respectively). Removal of the C. difficile exosporium resulted in an increase in spore counts after exposure to 300 g/ml of ramoplanin. Therefore, we propose that rather than being directly sporicidal, ramoplanin adheres to the exosporium for a prolonged period, during which time it is available to attack germinating cells. This action, in conjunction with its already established bactericidal activity against vegetative C. difficile forms, supports further evaluation of ramoplanin for the prevention of relapse after C. difficile infection in patients. Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) remains a clinically important disease, with increasing incidence and mortality rates in the United States; it now surpasses methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus as the most common health care-associated infection (HAI) and results in an annual cost burden to the health care system of $4.8 billion (1-3). A prolonged cure for treated patients remains elusive, as evidenced by the high rates of relapse (same ribotype within 30 days) and reinfection (different ribotype within 30 days). Recurrence rates have ranged from 15% to 40% (4-6) and are most commonly associated with the ribotype 027 epidemic strain (7). One contributing factor for high relapse rates is the presence of spores that persist within the intestinal lumen and evade elimination by standard anti-CDI treatments (8, 9). C. difficile spores are tolerant to standard antimicrobial therapy; hence, antimicrobial interventions targeting vegetative cells alone are unlikely to eradicate this disease reservoir (10).Ramoplanin is a glycolipodepsipeptide antibiotic produced from Actinoplanes, which inhibits peptidoglycan biosynthesis by limiting lipid II availability (11); it is bactericidal to many Grampositive aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, including C. difficile and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (11). Ramoplanin has known bactericidal activities against wild-type C. difficile and strains with reduced susceptibilities to vancomycin and has been studied in an open-labe...

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Background The incidence of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) has increased over the past two decades and is considered an urgent threat by the Centers for Disease Control. Hypervirulent strains such as ribotype 027, that possess genes for the additional toxin C. difficile binary toxin (CDT), are contributing to increased morbidity and mortality. Methods We retrospectively tested stool from 215 CDI patients for CDT by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Stratifying patients by CDT status, we assessed if disease severity and clinical outcomes correlated with CDT positivity. Additionally, we completed qPCR DNA extracted from patient stool to detect cdtB gene. Lastly, we performed 16 S rRNA gene sequencing to examine if CDT positive samples had an altered fecal microbiota. Results We found that patients with CdtB, the pore forming component of CDT, detected in their stool by ELISA were more likely to have severe disease with a higher 90-day mortality. CDT positive patients also had higher C. difficile bacterial burden and white blood cell counts. There was no significant difference in gut microbiome diversity between CDT positive and negative patients. Conclusions Patients with fecal samples that were positive for CDT had increased disease severity and worse clinical outcomes. Utilization of PCR and C. difficile Toxins A and B testing may not reveal the entire picture when diagnosing CDI, with the detection of CDT-expressing strains valuable in identifying patients at risk of more severe disease.