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Updates on Clostridium difficile in Europe pp 97–115Cite as

Clostridium difficile Biofilm

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Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AMIDPH,volume 1050))

Abstract

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is an important healthcare-associated disease worldwide, mainly occurring after antimicrobial therapy. Antibiotics administered to treat a number of infections can promote C. difficile colonization of the gastrointestinal tract and, thus, CDI. A rise in multidrug resistant clinical isolates to multiple antibiotics and their reduced susceptibility to the most commonly used antibiotic molecules have made the treatment of CDI more complicated, allowing the persistence of C. difficile in the intestinal environment.

Gut colonization and biofilm formation have been suggested to contribute to the pathogenesis and persistence of C. difficile. In fact, biofilm growth is considered as a serious threat because of the related increase in bacterial resistance that makes antibiotic therapy often ineffective. However, although the involvement of the C. difficile biofilm in the pathogenesis and recurrence of CDI is attracting more and more interest, the mechanisms underlying biofilm formation of C. difficile as well as the role of biofilm in CDI have not been extensively described.

Findings on C. difficile biofilm, possible implications in CDI pathogenesis and treatment, efficacy of currently available antibiotics in treating biofilm-forming C. difficile strains, and some antimicrobial alternatives under investigation will be discussed here.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Microbial Biofilm Laboratory, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy

    Claudia Vuotto & Gianfranco Donelli

  2. Healthcare Associated Infection Research Group, Section of Molecular Gastroenterology, Institute for Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Anthony Buckley & Caroline Chilton

Authors
  1. Claudia Vuotto
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  2. Gianfranco Donelli
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  3. Anthony Buckley
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  4. Caroline Chilton
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Correspondence to Claudia Vuotto .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Former Research Director in the Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health (ISS), Rome, Italy

    Paola Mastrantonio

  2. Department for Microbiological Research, National Laboratory of Health, Environment and Food (NLZOH), Maribor, Slovenia

    Maja Rupnik

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Vuotto, C., Donelli, G., Buckley, A., Chilton, C. (2018). Clostridium difficile Biofilm. In: Mastrantonio, P., Rupnik, M. (eds) Updates on Clostridium difficile in Europe. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology(), vol 1050. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72799-8_7

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