The National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has awarded more than $3.2 million to researchers to prove the effectiveness of a new treatment for Clostridium difficile infections.
The five-year grant will support a team of researchers that is trying to demonstrate how a novel bile salt can prevent C. diff spore germination.
"The infection form of C. difficile is the spore, a resistant structure that can survive on hospital surfaces for extended periods," said Steven Firestine, PhD, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at Wayne State University Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and member of the research team. "Our focus is on the synthesis and evaluation of compounds that prevent the conversion of the spore into growing bacterium. The lead agent has shown remarkable properties in the prevention of this disease, but there are still some issues related to its strength and stability that we need to address."
This study has the potential to decrease the spread of C. diff infections, which occur frequently in healthcare settings and can have a mortality rate greater than 2.5 percent.