Fecal Microbiota Transplant for Primary CDI

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is one of the most urgent health threats in the U.S. associated with antibiotic use. After an initial episode, disease recurrence is high and relapses can occur in 20-30% of people treated with oral vancomycin. An antibiotic course can affect the gut microbiome for years, and patients with CDI have additional dysbiosis of their gut flora. Oral vancomycin perturbs the gut microbiome further. Restoration of the microbiome with Fecal Microbiota Transplant (FMT) has been proven a highly efficacious and cost-effective treatment for recurrent CDI. FMT has had very limited study for a primary episode of CDI to date because an endoscopic procedure was the recommended route of delivery. However, FMT is now available via frozen oral capsules and has been shown to be non-inferior to FMT via colonoscopy in randomized controlled trials. The investigators hypothesize that outcomes after a first episode of CDI can be improved if the microbiome is restored with oral FMT. It is further hypothesized that this will compensate for any additional microbiome perturbation caused by administration of oral vancomycin and decrease the likelihood of recurrence. Because the hypothesis is based on restoration of the microbiome, the investigators propose this proof-of-concept pilot study to examine whether FMT administered after oral vancomycin therapy for primary CDI restores microbiome diversity compared to patients who do not receive FMT. Because of the potential health benefits, this approach deserves further study. The results from this pilot study on the microbiome diversity as well as the surveys to be conducted about GI symptomatology (e.g., diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating), CDI recurrence and healthcare utilization, would provide preliminary data to support a randomized controlled, multicenter clinical trial.