ACG Clostridium Difficile Guidelines Plus One

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CR Kelly et al. Am J Gastroenterol 2021;00:1–24. https://doi.org/10.14309/ajg.0000000000001278; published online May 18, 2021. Full text PDF: ACG Clinical Guidelines: Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Clostridioides difficile Infections

Key points:

  • Guideline recommends AGAINST using probiotics for prevention of C difficile infection (CDI)
  • Guideline cautions AGAINST testing individuals at low risk for CDI (eg. not having diarrhea)
  • Guideline recommends either vancomycin or fidaxomicin (lower CDI recurrence) for all cases of CDI and consideration of metronidazole for nonsevere cases. Fidaxomicin is recommended for CDI recurrence after vancomycin or metronidazole.
  • Guideline recommends combination of highly sensitive test and highly specific test for diagnosis of CDI. “CDI-related complications are rare in NAAT-positive, toxin EIA-negative patients, who, even when untreated, may have clinical courses similar to those without CDI…If both are positive, the diagnosis of CDI can be made reliably. If both are negative, CDI is unlikely. Discordant results when NAAT or GDH is positive and toxin EIA is negative require clinical evaluation and consideration of the possibility of colonization or that the patient has CDI but toxin levels are below the limits of detection (see below).

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Also, I recommend this article in the NY Times about a liver/intestinal transplant surgeon (who has taken care of some of our patients): ‘I Had Never Faced the Reality of Death’: A Surgeon Becomes a Patient