Objective: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) has become one of the most common causes of hospital-acquired infections. Fidaxomicin is one of the latest antibiotics used in the treatment of CDI, however, treatment cost affects recommendations for its use in several countries. We have analysed the treatment of our patients with CDI, treated by fidaxomicin since it was introduced to the market in 2018 and became available in the second biggest Slovak hospital, University Hospital of L. Pasteur. Our aim was to determine efficacy and safety of fidaxomicin in the treatment of CDI in Slovak patients.
Methods: We reviewed all courses of fidaxomicin use in our hospital (n = 60). Fidaxomicin was used for first recurrence (12 times), second recurrence (4 times), third recurrence (2 times), and fifth recurrence (1 patient). 41 patients received fidaxomicin first-line.
Results: Success of fidaxomicin treatment was recorded at 86.7% within the whole cohort. In the recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (rCDI) subgroup, fidaxomicin was 63% effective with three patients dying (15.7%) and two patients developing subsequent rCDI. During the duration of the study, 6 patients in total died. Only one of three patients, with three or more recurrences of CDI, had no further presentations after eight weeks of completion of treatment.
Conclusions: The biggest benefit from fidaxomicin treatment was shown in a cohort of patients with primary CDI infection demonstrating a low recurrence rate and significant reduction of fidaxomicin effectiveness in preventing a recurrence when treating patients with multiple rCDI.
Keywords: Clostridium difficile infection; fidaxomicin treatment; recurrence.