Clostridioides difficile causes severe disease in adults but commonly colonizes infants asymptomatically. The consequences of early-life colonization on host development remain unknown. In a neonatal ...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifies Clostridioides difficile as an urgent threat to the nation’s health, as it causes 450,000 infections, 15,000 deaths, and 1 billion dollars in excess healthcare costs per year in the United States (1, 2). Most C. difficile infections (CDIs) occur in healthcare settings, where CDI is the most common cause of infectious diarrhea (3). Known and suspected risk factors for CDI include antibiotics, proton pump inhibitors, impaired immune function, advanced age, and diet, all of which are associated with dysbiotic gastrointestinal (GI) microbiomes (4–6). Though most CDIs are associated with antibiotic treatment, 22% of individuals with community-acquired CDI have no recent history of antibiotic use. Factors affecting persistent and recurrent CDIs remain poorly defined (7, 8). Despite the morbidity and mortality caused by C. difficile, up to 15% of healthy adults are asymptomatic carriers of toxigenic C. difficile (9), highlighting the gaps in our understanding of C. difficile.

Clostridioides difficile epidemiology is rapidly evolving, and understanding the factors that contribute to one’s risk of C. difficile infection (CDI) is urgently needed. Based on our observations in ...

Individuals with diabetes frequently develop chronic, hyper-inflammatory, non-healing wounds, which are the leading cause of all non-traumatic amputations. Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a prominent b...

The American Society for Microbiology stands firm in its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, as such efforts are critical to advancing the microbial sciences for everyone.

Early life represents a critical window for microbial colonization of the human gastrointestinal tract. Surprisingly, we still know little about the rules that govern the successful colonization of in...

BilR is identified as a bilirubin reductase encoded by gut bacteria, which reduces bilirubin to urobilinogen.

Group B Streptococcus (GBS) colonizes the female reproductive tract (FRT) in one-third of women, and carriage leads to numerous adverse pregnancy outcomes including the preterm premature rupture of me...