Changes in the Composition of the Human Fecal Microbiome After Bacteriotherapy for Recurrent Clostridium difficile-associated Diarrhea

Clostridium difficile-associated disease (CDAD) is the major known cause of antibiotic-induced diarrhea and colitis, and the disease is thought to result from persistent disruption of commensal gut microbiota. Bacteriotherapy by way of fecal transplantation can be used to treat recurrent CDAD, which is thought to reestablish the normal colonic microflora. However, limitations of conventional microbiologic techniques have, until recently, precluded testing of this idea. In this study, we used terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism and 16S rRNA gene sequencing approaches to characterize the bacterial composition of the colonic microflora in a patient suffering from recurrent CDAD before and after…