Bile-making microbe fights off germ behind chronic diarrhea
Clostridium difficile capitalizes on the depleted microbiomes of hospital patients, but one of the gut’s resident species can fight it off. | JENNIFER HULSEY/CDC
Scientists have identified a natural microbial defender in the body’s fight against Clostridium difficile. The diarrhea-inducing and sometimes life-threatening bacterium lurks in hospitals and flourishes in patients whose intestinal microbes have been decimated by antibiotics. Now, a set of experiments shows that a normal microbial resident of the mouse and human gut, called Clostridium scindens, seems to help curtail C. difficileinfection in rodents by creating bile acid in the intestine. If that holds true in people, pills containing the bacteria could be both a preventative measure in patients at risk and an alternative to the successful strategy, off-putting to many, of fecal transplants.
Human testing of a second investigational Ebola vaccine candidate is under way at the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.