Pediatric severe pseudomembranous enteritis treated with fecal microbiota transplantation in a 13-month-old infant

Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is a procedure used to restore the intestinal microbiota of a diseased individual using indigenous intestinal microorganisms from a healthy donor. The current case report presents the first case of a 13-month-old male with severe pseudomembranous enteritis (PME) treated with FMT. The infant was admitted to Shanghai Children's Hospital with a 2-month history of diarrhea, and a 1.5-month history of retractable edema, hypoalbuminemia, electrolyte disturbance and malnutrition. Besides necessary nutritional support, the patient was treated twice with oral metronidazole combined with or without vancomycin. Diarrhea was partially remitted. However, the infant had bloody or dark-green feces, and a distended abdomen. On day 96 from the initiation of the disease, a single FMT via a nasal jejuna feeding tube was performed. From day 2 until 4 months post-FMT, the patient presented with no diarrhea, normal feces and a satisfactory weight. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first pediatric PME treated with FMT. The current data show that FMT is an efficient choice for recurrent clostridium difficile infection and PME in adults and a few pediatric cases. Due to a lack of safety and effectiveness data, treatment should be cautiously applied in the pediatric population.