Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Matters Arising
  • Published:

Reply to: Caution is warranted in using cephamycin antibiotics against recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection

Nature Microbiology volume 5, pages 237–238 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

The Original Article was published on 27 January 2020

replying to M. H. Wilcox Nature Microbiology https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-019-0661-9 (2020)

Wilcox1 expresses concern at the potential negative impacts of cephamycin treatment for C. difficile infection (CDI) patients and emphasizes the need for clinical trials before cephamycin antibiotics can be considered for the treatment of CDI. We acknowledge these concerns, which highlight the exploratory and preliminary nature of this work, and hope that opening a dialogue on this topic will serve to improve strategies for the development and implementation of new treatments for CDI.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Wilcox, M. H. Caution is warranted in using cephamycin antibiotics against recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection. Nat. Microbiol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-019-0661-9 (2020).

  2. Srikhanta, Y. N. et al. Cephamycins inhibit pathogen sporulation and effectively treat recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection. Nat. Microbiol. 4, 2237–2245 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Hill, J. A. & Cowen, L. E. Using combination therapy to thwart drug resistance. Future Microbiol. 10, 1719–1726 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Tyers, M. & Wright, G. D. Drug combinations: a strategy to extend the life of antibiotics in the 21st century. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 17, 141–155 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Cottarel, G. & Wierzbowski, J. Combination drugs, an emerging option for antibacterial therapy. Trends Biotechnol. 25, 547–555 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Jovetic, S., Zhu, Y., Marcone, G. L., Marinelli, F. & Tramper, J. β-Lactam and glycopeptide antibiotics: first and last line of defense? Trends Biotechnol. 28, 596–604 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Singh, N. & Yeh, P. J. Suppressive drug combinations and their potential to combat antibiotic resistance. J. Antibiot. 70, 1033–1042 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Isaac, S. et al. Short- and long-term effects of oral vancomycin on the human intestinal microbiota. J. Antimicrob. Chemother. 72, 128–136 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Al-Nassir, W. N. et al. Both oral metronidazole and oral vancomycin promote persistent overgrowth of vancomycin-resistant enterococci during treatment of Clostridium difficile-associated disease. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 52, 2403–2406 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Ramsay, I., Brown, N. M. & Enoch, D. A. Recent progress for the effectiveprevention and treatment of recurrent Clostridium difficile infection. Infect. Dis. 11, 1178633718758023 (2018).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Kuijper, E. J., Coignard, B. & Tüll, P. Emergence of Clostridium difficile associated disease in North America and Europe. Clin. Microbiol. Infect. 12, 2–18 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. McDonald, L. C. et al. An epidemic, toxin gene–variant strain of Clostridium difficile. New Engl. J. Med. 353, 2433–2441 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. O’Connor, J. R., Johnson, S. & Gerding, D. N. Clostridium difficile infection caused by the epidemic BI/NAP1/027 strain. Gastroenterology 136, 1913–1924 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Freeman, J. et al. The changing epidemiology of Clostridium difficile infections. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 23, 529–549 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Desai, K. et al. Epidemiological and economic burden of Clostridium difficile in the United States: estimates from a modeling approach. BMC Infect. Dis. 16, 303 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (grant no. APP1145760), and the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (no.FT120100779) was awarded to D.L.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Infection and Immunity Program, Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute and Department of Microbiology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Dena Lyras, Yogitha Srikhanta & Sheena McGowan

Authors
  1. Dena Lyras
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yogitha Srikhanta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sheena McGowan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

D.L., Y.S. and S.M. co-wrote the Article.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dena Lyras.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lyras, D., Srikhanta, Y. & McGowan, S. Reply to: Caution is warranted in using cephamycin antibiotics against recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection. Nat Microbiol 5, 237–238 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-019-0662-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-019-0662-8

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Microbiology

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Microbiology newsletter — what matters in microbiology research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Microbiology