Chen X, Katchar K, Goldsmith JD et al.
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Gastroenterology 2008;135:1984–92.
Editor’s note: Colitis due to
Clostridium difficile is becoming an increasing problem. More virulent strains have emerged in recent years, and the prevalence of
C difficile-associated colitis has increased both in high-risk hospitalized patients and in subjects without typical risk factors for the disease (
N Engl J Med 2008;359:1932–40). This manuscript describes a new mouse model of disease due to
C difficile, which should greatly benefit our understanding of the pathogenesis of this bacterial species and aid in the development of novel therapies to combat it. Previously, hamsters have been the only experimental animal to develop
C difficile-associated disease. However, the colitis induced is so severe that death within a couple days is typical, in contrast to most human infections.