Washington, D.C.—A critical problem with treating Clostridioides difficile infections is the possibility that the pathogen develops resistance to fidaxomicin, an antibiotic often prescribed as a first-line treatment. But current methods used to screen for fidaxomicin resistance are time-consuming and expensive, which could delay getting effective antibiotics to patients.
A modified culture medium could help speed up the process and lower the cost. Presenting at ASM Microbe 2026 in Washington, D.C., researchers from Cleveland, Ohio, described a new method for the rapid detection of fidaxomicin resistance.
Their recipe is straightforward: Add a little fidaxomicin directly to the standard culture medium, C. difficile Brucella agar. In a study on 126 stool samples that had already tested positive for C. difficile, the researchers found that the antibiotic-enhanced medium correctly identified resistant isolates with 100% sensitivity. They also estimated that for every 1,000 patients screened, use of the new medium will save 201 hours of work and $9,075 in supplies and labor.
C. difficile is both prolific and potent. Infections with the pathogen affect 500,000 people in the U.S. every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Up to 30,000 die within 30 days of the diagnosis, with about half of those deaths directly attributable to the infection.
