Faecal Microbiota transplants and less antibiotics the way to fight C. Diff rise, say gut experts

Less antibiotics and the use of faecal transplants should be used more by the National Health Service (NHS) to fight the first rise in Clostridium Difficile infection (C. Diff) after several years of decline claims a pioneering gut clinic. 

Figures of the potentially deadly gut infection rose by six per cent in 2014/15 from 13,361 in 2013/14 to 14,165, having previously decreased year on year since 2007/08.

“It is alarming that C Diff is on the rise again after the NHS managing to reduce cases by some 75 per cent in recent years,” said Glenn Taylor, microbiologist and founder of the Taymount Clinic in Hertfordshire.

“This worrying statistic is sure to alarm the public and the medical community, and we need a two-pronged approach to fight this disease,” added Mr Taylor whose clinic helps people with a range of gastrointestinal conditions, including Clostridium difficile (C Diff) and Ulcerative Colitis, as well as neurological and other problems..

“The majority of cases are no longer due to transmission within a hospital environment and instead C. Diff resides benignly in the gut of many individuals and the disease is instead awoken following extensive antibiotic treatment,” added Mr Taylor.”

It is estimated by the medical profession that around three per cent of the population carry C.Diff without disease.

However, it is widely accepted that antibiotic overload is a catalyst in awakening the disease.

“When there is an assault by the cocktails of antibiotics that are too often prescribed, it decimates the healthy flora in a person’s gut and allows C. Diff to multiply and wreak havoc within the bacterial ecosystem,” said Mr Taylor.

“When this happens, the normally harmful C. Diff will change its gene expression and become pathogenic; in other words disease-causing.”

He said FMT, which has been shown to have great success worldwide in treating recurrent cases of C. Diff, and is used in the NHS in severe cases should now be considered as a first line treatment for the disease.

“Really, the only sensible way to treat this is to repopulate the gut with a Faecal Microbiota Transplant, restoring the healthy bacterial ecosystem and suppressing the ability of C. Diff to cause disease,” he said.

“As things currently stand this is only accepted as a treatment for recurrent C. Diff, which is resistant to antibiotics.”

Mr Taylor added that antibiotics should be used more carefully.

“It’s very frustrating that the first line of treatment is to administer yet more antibiotics, which exacerbates the problem in many cases,” he said.

“We at the Taymount Clinic are not anti-antibiotic; they are of course essential in many situations. However, simply using FMT as the first line approach would make C. Diff infections lasting longer than three days very rare.”

“Considering the vast body of evidence supporting FMT for C. Diff, with cure rates well over 90%, we believe more could be done by the NHS,” he added.

“We hope the NHS listens to us and others within our field as the sooner they do the sooner this disease can be beaten."

Nolan PR, Acorn House, 140 Station Road, Wythall, Birmingham, B47 6AE  01564 822861 / 07505 133302

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