Clostridium difficile or C.diff is a particularly resistant type of bacteria that is very difficult to treat. It often affects people during a hospital stay (and outside of it), especially if they have taken antibiotics. Why is it so resistant?
According to some experts, Clostridium difficile infections continue to increase and are becoming increasingly difficult to treat. This means that researchers must find new and better ways to attack this stubborn bacteria, as it is necessary to discover what it is that gives this bacteria such resistance.
How is it spread?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that these infections usually occur after a person has taken antibiotics, which can get rid of the usual mix of gut microbes in our bodies.
C. diff is contagious. Microorganisms can be spread from person to person by touching them or by direct contact with contaminated objects and surfaces (eg clothing, mobiles, doorknobs). Some people are carriers of this bacteria but do not have symptoms of infection. However, these people still infected with the bacteria can transmit the infection to other people.
In general, bacteria have to rapidly increase in numbers to cause illness, so they can be transferred to people, but not cause a significant infection right away. The disease occurs when conditions favor the growth of these organisms. The conditions that favor growth are: weakened immune systems, in the elderly and especially in people hospitalized and who are being treated with antibiotics that suppress the normal intestinal flora.
Avoiding direct and indirect physical contact with contaminated areas reduces the probability of contagion.
A potentially deadly bacteria
Among other symptoms, C. difficile can cause diarrhea, which can range from mild to extremely severe. In the most extreme cases, the infection can even be fatal.
Recently, a team from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (UK) made an important discovery: C. difficile releases a special compound that allows it to gain ground on intestinal bacteria and establish a strong presence in the intestinal environment.
Now, scientists may have discovered what that advantage Clostridioides difficile hopes to find in the body is: in mice, a disruption of the mixing of microbes in the gut sets the stage for C. difficile infections, the researchers say in the journal Science Translational Medicine ; That is, pathogens flourish, in part, by offering you an extra amount of the amino acid proline (one of the amino acids that make up the proteins in living things).
Gastroenterologist Purna Kashyap of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, USA, and his team carried out stool transplantation experiments from people with normal or altered gut microbes to mice. Mice that received human stool transplants with normal gut microbiomes were able to fight or control C. difficile infections better than mice that received human stool transplants with altered mixtures.
The altered microbe mixtures led to an increase in certain amino acids in the gut, particularly proline. And it is that C. difficile can use proline as its main food source, which gives it a competitive advantage over microbes that do not consume the amino acid so easily. The scientists found that mice fed a proline-deficient mouse food had far fewer C. difficile bacteria in their intestines than mice fed a normal diet.
The fecal transplants were even more effective at keeping the mice’s C. difficile levels in check, Kashyap says. This suggests that probiotics containing other proline-eating bacteria could outcompete C. difficile and help restore balance to gut microbes.
Referencia: E.J. Battaglioli et al. Clostridioides difficile uses amino acids associated with gut microbial dysbiosis in a subset of patients with diarrhea. Science Translational Medicine. Vol. 10, October 24, 2018. doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aam7019.
