Clostridioides difficile Bacteria : Vaccine
Researchers are developing the first successful vaccine against the highly contagious and difficult-to-treat Clostridioides difficile bacteria, using the technology behind the revolutionary mRNA vaccines that tackled COVID-19.
- Clostridioides difficile bacteria is a bacterium that causes an infection of the colon, the longest part of the large intestine. Symptoms can range from diarrhea to life-threatening damage to the colon.
- Illness from C. difficile often occurs after using antibiotic medicines.
- It mostly affects older adults in hospitals or in long-term care settings. People not in care settings or hospitals also can get C. difficile infection.
- Symptoms:
- Watery diarrhea, mild belly cramping and tenderness.
- People who have a severe C. difficile infection tend to lose too much bodily fluid, a condition called dehydration.
- difficile infection that is severe and sudden can cause the colon to become inflamed and get larger, called toxic megacolon.
- Transmission: It can be transmitted from patient to patient by the hands of health care workers. Roughly one-third of infected individuals will have recurrent infections.
- Treatment: Treatments include a lengthy course of strong antibiotics, which also kill off beneficial bacteria in the gut, and fecal transplants to deliver healthy bacteria.
