[New Guidelines and Data to Clostridium difficile - What's New?]
The incidence of Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) remains on a high level globally. In Germany, the burden of disease and especially the number of severe or even lethal cases continue to increase. The main risk factor for the development of CDI is the exposure to broad-spectrum antibiotics, which disturb the intestinal microbiota and therefore enable the colonization with C. difficile. According to IDSA's and SHEA's updated US guidelines, vancomycin is the treatment of choice. Fidaxomicin is as effective as vancomycin, but its advantage is the lower rate of recurrence. For the treatment of multiple relapsing CDI, there are assured treatment successes of ≥ 90 % through a fecal microbiome transfer (FMT), whereby FMT in Germany currently only has the status of an individual therapeutic attempt. Thus, an evidence-based general recommendation for clinical practice is not possible. Currently, new antibiotics with narrow-spectrum activity and low intestinal resorption have been developed for the treatment of CDI, including surotomycin, cadazolid, and ridinilazol. Furthermore, recent clinical studies demonstrated that significantly fewer recurrences occurred in patients who additionally received the monoclonal antibody bezlotoxumab. Novel toxoid vaccines are expected to become an efficacious tool in the prevention of CDI. However, pivotal clinical trials have so far not been completed.