Monday 19 September 2011

microbiology - Are there animal models for Clostridium difficile that better replicate human infection than hamsters?

So I'm looking for some information on the infectious dose necessary to colonize a human with Clostridium difficile. There's no human challenge studies, and since it's not a foodborne pathogen, little we can get from outbreak data.



Which leaves me looking at animal models, to at least get the shape of the probability of infection based on a given dose. But the papers on hamsters makes it appear that they're infected rather easily, and that this infection is particularly severe.



Is there another animal model that more closely mimics the infection dynamics of C. difficile in humans?

No comments:

Post a Comment