Medicine Grand Rounds, David Weber and Sarah McGill, “Clostridium Difficile Infection”

Drs. Weber and McGill will discuss Clostridium difficile, often called C. diff, a bacterium that can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammation of the colon. Illness from C. difficile most commonly affects older adults in hospitals or in long term care facilities and typically occurs after use of antibiotic medications.

In recent years, C. difficile infections have become more frequent, more severe and more difficult to treat. Each year, tens of thousands of people in the United States get sick from C. difficile, including some otherwise healthy people who aren’t hospitalized or taking antibiotics.

Treatment of C. difficile infections costs more than $3 billion per year in the U.S. alone. C. diff is one of the most dangerous drug-resistant infections. As a result, it’s classified as an “urgent threat” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, making it a top priority for microbial researchers. Fecal microbiota transplantation is an effective treatment for recurrent C. difficile positive diarrhea. The Food and Drug Administration allows fecal transplantation to be performed in patients whose C. difficile infection has not responded to standard therapies.

Through his roles as medical director of hospital epidemiology and associate chief medical officer of UNC Health Care, Dr. Weber works to prevent hospital-acquired infections in patients and staff at UNC Hospitals. Dr. McGill cares for patients with recurrent C. difficile colitis and performs fecal transplant. She will examine the indications for fecal transplantation and how it is performed at UNC.