Is shorter also better in the treatment of Clostridioides difficile infection?

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of shortened regimens of vancomycin or fidaxomicin in the treatment of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI).

Methods: Adult patients with CDI hospitalized from January 2022 to May 2023 were included in this observational study. In patients with CDI treated with vancomycin or fidaxomicin, antibiotic treatment was discontinued after either 5 or 7 days of vancomycin or 5 days of fidaxomicin if there was a clinical response and improvement in laboratory parameters. The control cohort was treated with the standard 10 day regimen of either vancomycin or fidaxomicin. The follow-up was 60 days. Causative C. difficile strains were characterized by ribotyping and toxin gene detection when available.

Results: Twenty-five patients (median age 76 years) received shortened treatment with vancomycin (n = 21), or fidaxomicin (n = 4). Five cases fulfilled the criteria for severe CDI. Twenty-three patients completed follow-up; two died from causes other than CDI, and two developed recurrent CDI (8.0%). Ribotypes (RTs) 001 and 014 were the most prevalent with 20% each. In two C. difficile isolates, binary toxin genes were detected (RTs 078 and 023). In the control group of 22 patients recurrent CDI developed in 5 patients (22.7%). No statistically significant differences were found between the groups.

Conclusions: Shortened treatment regimens for CDI with vancomycin and fidaxomicin were shown to be effective in our cohort of patients compared with 10 days of treatment. The recurrence rate was lower in the study group. A larger, prospective, double-blind, randomized, multicentre study is needed to support our findings.