Gut bug to heart threat: scientists investigate hidden path to deadly infection
NCT ID NCT07313865
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This study looks at why a common gut bacterium, Enterococcus faecalis, sometimes travels to the heart and causes a serious infection called infective endocarditis. Researchers will analyze the gut bacteria of 90 adults with this bloodstream infection to see if an imbalance in the gut allows the bacteria to escape and infect heart valves. The goal is to find better ways to prevent this dangerous infection and its frequent relapses.
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Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 90 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Expected to start
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Jan 2026
An estimate. Start dates often move.
- Expected to finish
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Dec 2028
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
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Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Patients aged 18 years and older; * Capable of giving informed consent; * Affiliated with a social security system; * Hospitalized with at least one positive blood culture for Enterococcus faecalis, without an obvious clinical entry point after physical examination and initial routine investigations (BIEF group); * Hospitalized for another bacteremia, without an obvious clinical entry point after initial routine investigations (Control group); * Receiving antibiotic therapy that was started less than 48 hours ago Exclusion Criteria: * Refusal to participate in the study; * Pregnant or breastfeeding women; * Individuals under guardianship, curatorship, deprived of liberty, or under judicial protection; * Antibiotic therapy for the current infectious episode started more than 48 hours prior to inclusion.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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CHU de Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand, France, 63000, France
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
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- Simple dental exam before heart surgery may prevent deadly infections
- Iron and vitamins may boost recovery in heart infection patients
- Heart infection surgery outcomes examined in new study
- Which antibiotic strategy saves more lives from enterococcus blood infection?
- New device sucks out deadly heart infections without open surgery