- Roy J Hopkins: Department of Upper GI Surgery, Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
- Robert B Wilson: Department of Upper GI Surgery, Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
is a gram-positive, spore-forming, obligate anaerobic bacillus that was originally isolated from the stool of a healthy neonate in 1935. In high-income countries, is the most common cause of infectious diarrhoea in hospitalized patients. The incidence of infection in the USA has increased markedly since 2000, with hospitalizations for infections in non-pregnant adults doubling between 2000 and 2010. Between 20% and 35% of patients with infection will fail initial antibiotic treatment and, of these, 40-60% will have a second recurrence. Recurrence of infection after initial treatment causes substantial morbidity and is a major burden on health care systems. In this article, current treatments for recurrent infection are reviewed and future directions explored. These include the use of antibiotics, probiotics, donor faecal transplants, anion resins, secondary bile acids or anti-toxin antibodies.