GOOD: Doctors See Gains Against ‘an Urgent Threat,’ C. Diff. Infection rates seem to be dropping, as hospitals take infection-control more seriously. Plus:

As for new treatments, experts see encouraging prospects:

• In the next few weeks, the drug maker Merck will begin marketing bezlotoxumab (brand name: Zinplava), shown to reduce C. diff recurrences.

A study in The New England Journal of Medicine last month reported that the drug, which uses an antibody against a C. diff toxin, reduced recurrences to 16 to 17 percent. With a placebo, the infection recurred in 26 to 28 percent of patients.

The drug is expensive, at $3,800 for a one-time intravenous infusion, but Merck has said its patient-assistance program will cover Zinplava for those unable to pay.

• Dr. Gerding and his team have conducted trials of an orally administered liquid containing spores of a C. diff strain that does not produce toxins or cause illness, but supplants the toxic strains.

His small study of 168 patients, published in JAMA, showed that the most effective dose brought the recurrence rate down to 5 percent. (Dr. Gerding receives consulting fees from several pharmaceutical firms.)

• Several dozen studies of another promising method of reducing recurrence, the gross-sounding fecal transplant, are underway at research centers.

I don’t know why people are so grossed out about fecal transplants. And honestly, that looks the most promising.