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Faecal microbiota transplantation Neomycin a b s t r a c t Objectives: Intestinal carriage with extended spectrum b-lactamase Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-E) and carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) can persist for months. We aimed to evaluate whether oral antibiotics followed by faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) can eradicate intestinal carriage with ESBL-E/CPE. Methods: Randomized, open-label, superiority trial in four tertiary-care centres (Geneva (G), Paris (P), Utrecht (U), Tel Aviv (T)). Non-immunocompromised adult patients were randomized 1: 1 to either no intervention (control) or a 5-day course of oral antibiotics (colistin sulphate 2 Â 10 6 IU 4Â/day; neomycin sulphate 500 mg 4Â/day) followed by frozen FMT obtained from unrelated healthy donors. The primary outcome was detectable intestinal carriage of ESBL-E/CPE by stool culture 35e48 days after randomization (V4). ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02472600. The trial was funded by the European Commission (FP7). Results: Thirty-nine patients (G ¼ 14; P ¼ 16; U ¼ 7; T ¼ 2) colonized by ESBL-E (n ¼ 36) and/or CPE (n ¼ 11) were enrolled between February 2016 and June 2017. In the intention-to-treat analysis 9/22 (41%) patients assigned to the intervention arm were negative for ESBL-E/CPE at V4 (1/22 not receiving the intervention imputed as positive) whereas in the control arm 5/17 (29%) patients were negative (one lost to follow up imputed as negative) resulting in an OR for decolonization success of 1.7 (95% CI 0.4 e6.4). Study drugs were well tolerated overall but three patients in the intervention group prematurely stopped the study antibiotics because of diarrhoea (all received FMT).

Clostridioides difficile (formerly Clostridium) is a major cause of healthcare associated diarrhea, and is increasingly present in the community. Historically, C difficile infection was considered easy to diagnose and treat. Over the past two decades, however, diagnostic techniques have changed in line with a greater understanding of the physiopathology of C difficile infection and the use of new therapeutic molecules. The evolution of diagnosis showed there was an important under- and misdiagnosis of C difficile infection, emphasizing the importance of algorithms recommended by European and North American infectious diseases societies to obtain a reliable diagnosis. Previously, metronidazole was considered the reference drug to treat C difficile infection, but more recently vancomycin and other newer drugs are shown to have higher cure rates. Recurrence of infection represents a key parameter in the evaluation of new drugs, and the challenge is to target the right population with the adapted therapeutic molecule. In multiple recurrences, fecal microbiota transplantation is recommended. New approaches, including antibodies, vaccines, and new molecules are already available or in the pipeline, but more data are needed to support the inclusion of these in practice guidelines. This review aims to provide a baseline for clinicians to understand and stratify their choice in the diagnosis and treatment of C difficile infection based on the most recent data available.

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