Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is the most common hospital-associated infection worldwide and is a significant threat in public health, causing morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. It is caused by C. difficile, ubiquitous, gram-positive, spore-forming bacteria that colonize in patients with a disruption in normal intestinal microflora. In the past, antibiotics were recommended as standard therapies. However, as treatments that involve the use of antibiotics have been associated with high rates of recurrence, recent advancements have been made to treat patients with CDI. One of these alternative therapies is fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) that aims to restore colonic flora using samples collected from healthy donors. As the elderly population is at a higher risk for CDI, this study aims to review published literature to determine the efficacy and limitations of current treatment options available for elderly patients with CDI.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/36588 |
| Date | 13 June 2019 |
| Creators | Lee, Dayeun |
| Contributors | Ritter, Brigitte, Liu, Christine |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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