A team at Stanford University has developed a new drug to fight deadly Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infections. Each year, the superbug kills 29,000 Americans and makes 450,000 sick. Rather than destroying helpful bacteria along with C. difficile toxins, as antibiotics do, tests in mice show the new compound prevents damage to the inside of the intestine, thereby avoiding the diarrhea and sepsis that causes most fatalities. In an NBC News story, University of Minnesota gastroenterologist Alexander Khoruts, MD, explains the potential signficance of the new therapy, noting "a critical need for non-antibiotic alternatives" to treat C. difficile infection. Prof. Khoruts is Medical Director of the University's Microbiota Therapeutics Program, a sponsor of this year's Consortium lecture series on microbiome research and treatment.