Treatment of Clostridium Difficile Infection

Conducting a randomized controlled trial to improve understanding, produce new knowledge, and impact clinical outcomes for patients diagnosed with Clostridium Difficile Infection (CDI)

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Full Project Name:Randomized Controlled Trial for the Treatment of NAAT+/toxin– Clostridium Difficile InfectionPrincipal Investigator:L. Silvia Munoz-Price, MD, PhD, MedicineCo-Investigator:Javeria Haque, MD, Medicine, Infectious Disease; Nita H. Salzman, MD, PhD, Pediatrics; Andres Jose Yarur, MD, Mediciney; Michael T. Zimmermann, PhD, Clinical and Translational Science InstituteAward Amount:$200,000

Award Date

January2019

Project Duration:24 months

Project Description Narrative:

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is considered the most frequent infection acquired in U.S. hospitals, causing almost half a million cases each year with an estimated annual cost of $4.8 billion. Despite the existence of three antibiotic options, CDI is associated with higher hospital readmission rates and approximately 29,300 deaths annually.

C. difficile is an organism that has the capacity to live in the guts of humans and other mammals. Clinical diagnosis of CDI in more than half of U.S. hospitals is ascertained using a highly sensitive test. However, should all patients who test C. difficile positive receive antibiotic treatment, or are some of these patients only asymptomatic carriers who do not require treatment?

This project aims to determine the impact of antibiotic treatment for non-hematology-oncology patients who test C. difficile positive for one of the two standard of care clinical tests.

Outcomes & Lessons Learned:

Recruited and enrolled eight of the targeted 30 patients in the study
Collected and uploaded data from enrolled patients to an electronic database for use later in the project