Fecal microbiota transplantation: a new standard treatment option for Clostridium difficile infection.

The last 20 years have seen a progressive increase in the global incidence and severity of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), particularly in North America and Europe. This increase has been accompanied by the identification and increased prevalence of new, hypervirulent toxigenic strains such as NAP1/BI/027 [1], which in the USA alone is responsible for worsened outcomes and a mortality reaching some 300 deaths per day from 3 million new cases annually [2]. It is within the context of the CDI epidemic that fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has gained acceptance as the most effective therapy for CDI [3]. This editorial makes the case that the