Researchers "fought-fire-with-fire" when they dosed a nontoxigenic C. diff strain called M3 to prevent recurrent C. diff infections, reports BBC. There were 173 people involved in the trial.
Here are five notes from the study, which were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association:
1. The research was conducted at Loyola University Health System in Maywood, Ill.
2. The M3 strain took over the stomach instead of toxic C. diff 69 percent of the time.
3. Of the patients where the M3 strain took over the stomach, one patient in 50 had another toxic infection of the bacteria.
4. If M3 did not colonize in the stomach or the patient was given a placebo, one in three had renewed symptoms.
5. Researcher Dale Gerding, MD, told BBC that C. diff is a big problem, and with this study they are establishing "competition with the original, toxic strain."
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