Abstract

Background: Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) infections are common in immunosuppressed patients. Sometimes these are difficult to treat in post-bone marrow transplant situations.

Methods: A 2-year-old child with relapsed acute myeloid leukemia underwent a haploidentical bone marrow transplant. He developed 30-40 episodes/day of loose watery stools on day +19. The stool was positive for C. difficile infection. He failed oral vancomycin and metronidazole therapy. He received a fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) on day +43. The donor was the same sister who donated hematopoietic stem cells.

Results: Three days later (day +46), stool frequency reduced from 22-24/day to 12-14/day. Color normalized to yellow and consistency improved from watery to semisolid without blood. He was discharged from the hospital 10 days after FMT on oral vancomycin and nasogastric feeding. Stool tested for C. difficile 16 days after FMT was negative and oral vancomycin was stopped.

Conclusion: Fecal microbiota transplant could be a useful modality in children with severe C. difficile infection post-bone marrow transplant.