Clostridium difficile – or C. diff – is a type of bacteria that can cause life-threatening diarrhoea and often affects people taking antibiotics. It can easily spread to others if the faeces of an infected person gets onto surfaces or objects. For this reason it is more common among people who have been staying in a hospital or care home for a long time.
Now scientists have found a way to protect against C. diff – considered a hospital “superbug”.
In experiments, conducted by the University of Nevada, mice were protected against multiple strains of C. diff – including those that cause serious illness.
It comes as the World Health Organisation has named antimicrobial resistance – infections resistant to drugs such as antibiotics – as one of the biggest threats facing mankind.
Co-author Professor Ernesto Abel–Santos, of the University of Nevada, said: “Some of the new compounds we have developed provide multi-day protection in mice from just a single dose.
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“What’s more, we found that these compounds appear to move in a loop between the liver and the intestine, which means that the liver is enabling a slow release of these compounds to the gut.”
The list of bacteria becoming resistant to treatment with all available options is growing meaning that the last new drug that made it into doctors’ hands dates back to 1987.
C. diff can cause several symptoms including:
- Diarrhoea
- A high temperature
- Loss of appetite
- Feeling sick
- A stomach ache.
Only two major drugs are approved to treat this, both of which are antibiotics that are administered only after the infection has taken hold.
Prof Abel–Santos said: “Anthrax is another well-known spore-forming type of bacteria.
“After the anthrax attacks in 2001, I started thinking about how these spores – which are basically specks of sand – detect their environment and start the germination process that returns them to a normal living organism.
“I realised targeting the germination process could be a way to prevent infectious diseases such as C. diff.”
The optical properties of a spore change when it starts to germinate – enabling the US team to test hundreds of different compounds.
A molecule called CaPA was the best. They are now developing synthetic versions that will survive in the gut long enough to be used for prevention.
A patient’s liver could even control dosages – boosting gut bacteria.
Prof Abel-Santos added: “This is something that has not been studied before. It might be possible to use the patient’s own liver as part of the treatment plan.”
There is wide concern the world is cruising into a “post-antibiotic” era – leaving many common infections untreatable. This would mean staples of modern medicine – including surgery, chemotherapy and organ transplants – would become redundant.
Ms Phan presented the findings at a meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Seattle.
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