Murine model for prevention of disease recurrence

Mice were pre-treated with antibiotics and infected as above. Ten hours following infection, all mice were administered 100 µl of vancomycin (6 mg/mL) by oral gavage and then given access ad libitum to either vancomycin (0.4 mg/mL) alone in the drinking water (group A) or colostrum (15% (w/v)) containing 0.4 mg/mL of vancomycin (group B). These solutions were replenished daily. Mice were monitored daily for signs of infection and faecal samples were enumerated for the presence of spores. Once levels of C. difficile in the faeces reached undetectable levels, vancomycin treatment ceased (day 8) and mice were housed individually to assess disease relapse. At this point, mice were given either plain water (group A) or colostrum (group B). Mice were then weighed and faecal samples collected daily to detect spore shedding and disease relapse. Mice were humanely euthanised according to animal ethics guidelines if they lost 10% body weight in 24 hours or met other disease criteria as previously defined²².