PLAQARD - PLAQue As a Reservoir for C.Difficile v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Periodontal biofilms as a reservoir for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI).
IRAS ID
345631
Contact name
Jon Vernon
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leeds
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
Clostridioides difficile is a common pathogen of the gut, producing toxins capable of causing severe damage to the colon. As a leading cause of healthcare-associated infections, it causes major clinical and financial burdens, costing healthcare providers more than £250 million each year. Large proportions of this expenditure are a result of recurrent infections, with up to 30% of patients relapsing to subsequent infections. As a spore-forming bacteria, C. difficile can exist in a dormant phase, sequestered in the environment to cause reinfection at the opportune moment.
Periodontal diseases are characterised by a substantial accumulation of microbes, which significantly impact both oral and systemic health. The severity of periodontal diseases correlates with dental plaque and microbiological mass. Early reports in the literature indicate that 79% of patients with advanced periodontitis harbour C. difficile in the oral cavity. This research postulates that dental plaque can act as a reservoir for C. difficile in infected patients, leading to increased rates of recurrent C. difficile infection (CDI).
Oral samples (saliva and dental plaque) will be sought from CDI inpatients within the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) sites. These samples will be assessed for the presence of C. difficile via molecular detection of pathogen DNA. Oral samples will also be sought from a cohort of healthy individuals within the LTHT or University of Leeds (UoL)for comparison. The presence and abundance of C. difficile will be reported in oral samples. Coupled with searching of publicly available in silico data, this will form a set of pilot data to inform a larger piece of research. The future work will assess the correlations between periodontal status and C. difficile presence/abundance, as well as whether antibiotic treatment regimens with higher recurrence rates are associated with a greater prevalence of oral C. difficile.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/EM/0173
Date of REC Opinion
4 Sep 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion