OBJECTIVES Vancomycin and metronidazole remain the only primary options for the treatment of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). Recent reports have suggested a superior clinical response to vancomycin therapy compared with metronidazole, but this has been difficult to prove or explain. There are few robust in vitro data of the effects of antibiotic treatment of CDI in a gut reflective setti...

The Shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli (STEC) O113:H21 strain 98NK2, which was responsible for an outbreak of hemolytic uremic syndrome, secretes a highly potent and lethal subtilase cytotoxin that is unrelated to any bacterial toxin described to date. It is the prototype of a new family of AB(5) toxins, comprising a single 35-kilodalton (kD) A subunit and a pentamer of 13-kD B subunits. The A su...