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Updated: May 16, 2026

Culturing and Maintaining Clostridium difficile in an Anaerobic Environment
Published on: September 14, 2013
Both fidaxomicin and vancomycin inhibit outgrowth of Clostridium difficile spores
Charlotte A Allen1, Farah Babakhani, Pam Sears
1Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA.
Abstract:
Fidaxomicin (FDX) is approved to treat Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea and is superior to vancomycin in providing a sustained clinical response (cure without recurrence in the subsequent 25 days). The mechanism(s) behind the low recurrence rate of FDX-treated patients could be multifactorial. Here, we tested effects of FDX, its metabolite OP-1118, and vancomycin on spore germination and determined that none affected the initiation of spore germination but all inhibited outgrowth of vegetative cells from germinated spores.
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