Viral transfer during FMT linked to better outcomes in recurrent C. diff bacterial infections

Clostridium difficile (C. difficile, C. diff or CDI) is a bacterium associated with the intake of antibiotics which causes diarrhoea. It is easily spread to others, both in hospital and a household environments. C. Diff infections are generally treated with antibiotics. Recurrent infection is successfully treated with faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), however the underlying mechanism of action is not well defined. This study identified a key role of the virome within the transferred stool on treatment responses.

Listen to the discussion between the Education Editor of Gut, Mairi McLean, and Siew Ng (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China), who's the leading author of the Open Access paper “Bacteriophage transfer during faecal microbiota transplantation in Clostridium difficile infection is associated with treatment outcome”, included in the April 2018’s Gut issue (gut.bmj.com/content/67/4/634).