Relapse Of Infections Is The Most Challenging Aspect Of Treating Clostridium Difficile Infections In The Hospital Setting

Main Category: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses
Article Date: 03 Sep 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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Arlington Medical Resources (AMR) and Decision Resources find that relapse or recurrence of infections is the most challenging aspect of treating Clostridium difficile infections in the hospital setting. Surveyed infectious disease specialists emphasize the need for new agents that have lower relapse rates than the current standard-of-care. Currently, clinicians have limited treatment options for patients with this infection; oral metronidazole (Pfizer's Flagyl, Sanofi Aventis's Rodogyl, generics) and oral vancomycin (ViroPharma's Vancocin) are the most commonly used agents for treating both first and relapse episodes of Clostridium difficile infections in the United States and Europe.

In the new report entitled Hospital Anti-Infectives Insight Series: Clostridium Difficile, surveyed infectious disease specialists indicate that new strains of Clostridium difficile and the lack of effective second- and later-line therapies are also significant challenges in treatment.

Clostridium difficile is a gram-positive bacterium that can cause symptoms ranging from severe diarrhea to life-threatening inflammation of the colon. A new hypervirulent strain, BI/NAP1/027, has been associated with severe outbreaks of Clostridium difficile in North America and Europe, and has raised awareness about the need for improved treatment and prevention strategies for this infection.

"Clostridium difficile infections represent a growing area of concern due to the increased incidence of these infections and a limited number of treatment options," stated Lisa Arias, analyst at Decision Resources. "Surveyed physicians would like to see novel therapies that have a lower recurrence rate than current agents."

About the Report

AMR and Decision Resources' Hospital Anti-Infectives Insight Series: Clostridium Difficile analyzes hospital antibiotic prescribing patterns using AMR's comprehensive and highly detailed clinical data in conjunction with Decision Resources' disease area knowledge, primary research and extensive understanding of emerging therapies and forecasts. This report contains both United States and European data and examines the reasons behind physicians' product preferences, factors driving hospital antibiotic prescribing patterns and receptivity to emerging antibiotics.

About AMR

AMR serves the market intelligence needs of the pharmaceutical and diagnostic imaging industries. Research includes clinical inpatient databases that directly link anti-infective drug with indication/procedure, formulary and stocking status tracking studies, drug purchasing audits and diagnostic imaging procedure volume/contrast media usage audits. AMR is a Decision Resources, Inc. company.

About Decision Resources

Decision Resources is a world leader in market research publications, advisory services and consulting designed to help clients shape strategy, allocate resources and master their chosen markets. Decision Resources is a Decision Resources, Inc. company.

All company, brand or product names contained in this document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Source: Decision Resources