Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI)

General Information

Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) is an anaerobic bacterium, widely distributed in soil and the intestinal tracts of animals.

Currently, no vaccine is licensed for the prevention of CDI.

Transmission

The transmission of C. difficile can be patient-to-patient, via contaminated hands of healthcare workers or by environmental contamination.

Symptoms

The clinical spectrum of C. difficile infection (CDI) ranges from mild diarrhoea to severe life-threatening pseudomembranous colitis.

Epidemiology

1 in 11 people over age 65 diagnosed with a healthcare-associated C. difficile infection die within one month.

Nearly 124,000 healthcare-associated C. difficile infections (CDIs) occur annually in acute care hospitals in the EU/EEA, and 3,700 deaths.

Vaccines Pipeline

4
Vaccines in
the pipeline

TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS

Protein subunit​ (2)
Toxoid vaccine (2)

DEVELOPMENT PHASES

Phase I (2)
Phase II (1)
Phase III (1)

TRIAL POPULATION

Adults + Older adults (2)
Older adults (1)
N/A (1)

Sources: 
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/clostridium-difficile-infections/facts​https://www.cdc.gov/cdiff/what-is.html​​ ​[Accessed: November 2022]