Drug & supplement interaction

Clove + Fidaxomicin

Fidaxomicin brand name: Dificid.

No Known Interaction
Medically reviewed by · Updated July 2026 · Pair last verified Sep 13, 2026
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Clove and Fidaxomicin in our sources. Absence of a documented interaction is not the same as proven safety, and does not guarantee one does not exist. Do not start, stop, or change a medication or supplement based on this page; confirm with your pharmacist or doctor first. Additionally, although there is no interaction, the two are separately associated with some of the same side effects, which would make a new symptom harder to attribute to one or the other.

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Interaction report

Clove and Fidaxomicin

We checked these two against our interaction database. Here is what we found.

No Known Interaction Found

We did not find a documented interaction between Fidaxomicin and Clove in our sources. This does not guarantee that the combination is completely free of risk — there is often limited research on supplements and herbal products, especially around drug interactions.

If you decide to take both, the practical routine is simple: add one new thing at a time and note the date you started it. If the combination is going to disagree with you, it usually shows in the first days to a couple of weeks — and a start date turns “I’ve been feeling off” into something a pharmacist can actually work with. Do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own.

Always talk with your pharmacist or doctor before making changes to your medications or supplements, particularly if you take several medications or have an ongoing health condition.

Clove safety at a glance

Clove overall Use caution Safe as a food spice, but concentrated clove oil and supplements can be irritating or toxic in large amounts.
Pregnancy Likely Safe When used orally in amounts found in foods. Clove, clove oil, and eugenol have Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) status for use in foods in the US. There is i... Read the full pregnancy detail
Breastfeeding Likely Safe When used orally in amounts found in foods. Clove, clove oil, and eugenol have Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) status for use in foods in the US. There is i... Read the full breastfeeding detail

Pregnancy & breastfeeding ratings are from Natural Medicines (Therapeutic Research Center) — the full detail is in the Special populations card below. Safety guidance is general; always confirm with your pharmacist or doctor for your situation.

Still wondering about combining Fidaxomicin and Clove? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›
How we checked

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Fidaxomicin

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Fidaxomicin is filed under 4 classifications — including macrolide antibiotics, antibiotic drugs, p-glycoprotein substrates. Clove has documented interactions with 7 drug classes — the most serious being antidiabetes drugs (moderate), cytochrome p450 1a2 (cyp1a2) substrates (moderate) and cytochrome p450 2c9 (cyp2c9) substrates (moderate) — and none of Fidaxomicin’s classifications are among them.

Classification data comes from our licensed Natural Medicines dataset. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded there, so this describes how the check was run — it is not a safety guarantee.

Keep it in perspective

Clove Does Interact With Other Medications

Clove has 917 moderate, 60 minor known drug interactions in our database — Fidaxomicin isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Moderate 917 Minor 60 No known interaction 1,853 (incl. Fidaxomicin)
Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Clove

Covers the 2,830 medications we’ve checked against Clove. Pick one to open its full report.

What to actually watch for

No Interaction Found — But Data Suggests Clove and Fidaxomicin May Share Several of the Same Side Effects

This is not an interaction. Neither one changes how your body handles the other, and nothing here says they react together. What our sources do show is that each has separately been linked to the effects below — so taking both can make those effects more likely to turn up, and harder to pin on one or the other if they do.

  • Diarrhea reported in 14.7% of FDA reports for Fidaxomicin Additional detail

    Clove

    “CNS depression has been reported in a 7-month-old who was given one teaspoon of clove oil accidentally in place of mineral oil for diarrhea. The patient was successfully treated with supportive care and gastric lavage. A case of confusion and inability to speak has been reported secondary to oral exposure to clove oil and alcohol.”

    Clove · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in depression.

    3 sources cited
    1. 43457. Lane, B. W., Ellenhorn, M. J., Hulbert, T. V., and McCarron, M. Clove oil ingestion in an infant. Hum.Exp Toxicol. 1991;10(4):291-294. PubMed
    2. 43580. Dyrbye, B. A., Dubois, L., Vink, R., and Horn, J. A patient with clove oil intoxication. Anaesth.Intensive Care 2012;40(2):365-366.
    3. 43652. Hartnoll, G., Moore, D., and Douek, D. Near fatal ingestion of oil of cloves. Arch.Dis Child 1993;69(3):392-393. PubMed

    “Proteinuria and other urinary abnormalities were observed in a seven-month-old infant given one teaspoon of clove oil accidentally in place of mineral oil for diarrhea. The patient was successfully treated with supportive care and gastric lavage.”

    Clove · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in diarrhea.

    1 source cited
    1. 43457. Lane, B. W., Ellenhorn, M. J., Hulbert, T. V., and McCarron, M. Clove oil ingestion in an infant. Hum.Exp Toxicol. 1991;10(4):291-294. PubMed

    Fidaxomicin

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Fidaxomicin, and in voluntary FDA adverse-event reports. Read the label on DailyMed ›

  • A skin rash Additional detail

    Clove

    “Contact dermatitis and urticaria has been reported following topical exposure to clove oil or eugenol, a constituent of clove oil.”

    Clove · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in dermatitis.

    4 sources cited
    1. 12635. Kanerva L, Estlander T, Jolanki R. Occupational allergic contact dermatitis from spices. Contact Dermatitis 1996;35:157-62. PubMed
    2. 43339. Sanchez-Perez, J. and Garcia-Diez, A. Occupational allergic contact dermatitis from eugenol, oil of cinnamon and oil of cloves in a physiotherapist. Contact Dermatitis 1999;41(6):346-347. PubMed
    3. 43606. Romaguera, C., Alomar, A., Camarasa, J. M., Garcia, Bravo B., Garcia, Perez A., Grimalt, F., Guerra, P., Lopez, Gorretcher B., Pascual, A. M., Miranda, A., and . Contact dermatitis in children. Contact Dermatitis 1985;12(5):283-284. PubMed
    4. 43346. Andersen, K. E., Johansen, J. D., Bruze, M., Frosch, P. J., Goossens, A., Lepoittevin, J. P., Rastogi, S., White, I., and Menne, T. The time-dose-response relationship for elicitation of contact dermatitis in isoeugenol allergic individuals. Toxicol.Appl PubMed

    Fidaxomicin

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Fidaxomicin. Read the label on DailyMed ›

Reported for Clove but not commonly for Fidaxomicin: an electrolyte imbalance, shortness of breath, chest pain and raised blood pressure.

Effects for Fidaxomicin come from the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of its FDA label; effects for Clove come from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, quoted above. Where a percentage is shown, it is the share of 2,385 voluntary FDA FAERS reports for Fidaxomicin that mention that effect — a reporting proportion, not an incidence rate and not evidence the drug caused it. Wording is matched across sources by our own clinical vocabulary, so treat this as a prompt to pay attention, not a diagnosis.

Special populations

Clove in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Pregnancy And Lactation Likely Safe

When used orally in amounts found in foods. Clove, clove oil, and eugenol have Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) status for use in foods in the US. There is insufficient reliable information available about the safety of using clove in medicinal amounts during pregnancy and lactation; avoid using.

DISCLAIMER: This tool is intended for informational purposes only, and should not be interpreted as specific medical advice. Patients should consult with a qualified healthcare provider before making decisions about therapies and/or health conditions.© 2026 Therapeutic Research Center

Overlapping uses

What Fidaxomicin Is Prescribed For, and What Clove Has Been Studied For

These two come up together because they touch the same health topic — not because they do the same job. Fidaxomicin is a prescription medicine with approved uses on its FDA label. Clove is a supplement: what follows is what researchers have looked at it for, and how strong that evidence is.

Fidaxomicin is prescribed for: Fidaxomicin treats C. difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD) — a bacterial infection in the gut caused by Clostridioides difficile that leads to significant diarrhea and intestinal inflammation. Fidaxomicin tablets are approved for adult patients. Dificid (as tablets or oral suspension) is approved for both adults and children 6 months of age and older.

Read the rest of what Fidaxomicin is prescribed for

Because fidaxomicin works almost entirely inside the gut and is barely absorbed into the bloodstream, it is only effective against C. difficile and should not be used for any other type of infection.

Clove has been studied for:

  • Diarrhea studied, not established Clove has been studied for this. Natural Medicines rates the evidence: Insufficient Reliable Evidence To Rate Read what the research shows

    Clove for diarrhea

    Although there has been interest in using oral clove for diarrhea, there is insufficient reliable information about the clinical effects of clove for this purpose.

Effectiveness ratings and the research summaries above are the verbatim record from the Natural Medicines database, which grades evidence from “Effective” down to “Insufficient Reliable Evidence To Rate”. A rating below the top of that scale means researchers have looked at it — not that it works, and never that it can stand in for a prescribed medicine. Do not stop or replace Fidaxomicin on your own; if you are taking Clove for the same health topic, tell your prescriber, especially if the medicine is being adjusted to a target.

From our Q&A

Questions About Clove or Fidaxomicin

These are real questions from readers, answered by the pharmacists at HelloPharmacist — written by a person, not generated from a database. Each one covers Clove or Fidaxomicin, not necessarily both, but if one is close to what you were about to ask it will usually go further than a database entry can:

Not quite your question? Ask our pharmacists directly — it is free, there is no account required, and answers usually come back within 24 hours.

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Fidaxomicin

This page covers Clove only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Fidaxomicin page lists 92 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Activated Charcoal (major), Oleander (major), St. John's Wort (major), Bacillus Coagulans (moderate) and Bacillus Subtilis (moderate).

By severity: 3 major · 71 moderate · 18 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Fidaxomicin page

“If you are taking fidaxomicin (Dificid) for a Clostridioides difficile infection, supplements are not a side issue, because anything that weakens this drug risks letting a hard-to-treat infection come back. Three entries rated major top my concerns.”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Fidaxomicin interaction page

One more smart check

Taking Clove as Part of a Dietary Supplement Product? Check It for Interactions

We hold 59 real supplement products containing Clove, each one broken down to its full ingredient list — and combination products often carry several ingredients besides Clove. Even though Clove itself has no known interaction with Fidaxomicin, another ingredient on your label might. Find your product and we’ll check every ingredient on its label:

How much people look this up

Where Clove and Fidaxomicin Sit Against Everything Else

Out of every supplement and medication people look up on HelloPharmacist, here is where these two land this week — and which way each has been moving.

Supplement Clove
Top 25%

#171 of 1,452 supplements looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today
Medication Fidaxomicin
Steady interest

#2,048 of 2,830 medications looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today

Position among everything looked up on this site, not a measure of how commonly either one is used or how important it is. A supplement can climb this list because of a news story. It counts every request to the page, automated ones included, and nothing here identifies anyone.

Where does our data come from?
  • Source: the Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) clinical database — the evidence-graded professional reference for herb & supplement interactions.
  • Citation library: 103,510 references behind our interaction content, 65,311 of them resolved to verified PubMed/DOI sources. See every Clove reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 13, 2026. The Clove and Fidaxomicin records this page draws on were last updated July 10, 2026.
  • What “no known interaction” means: no documented interaction in the sources above — not a guarantee of safety. Supplements are studied far less than prescription drugs, so we say exactly what the evidence supports, and nothing more.
Data structure & sourcing designed and verified by .
Supplement

About Clove

What is Clove?

Clove
  • Toothache and oral pain
  • Digestive upset
  • Antimicrobial and antifungal
  • Cough and respiratory complaints
  • Flavoring in food and drinks

Clove is a common cooking spice that is also used in traditional medicine, especially as a topical numbing agent for tooth pain thanks to its main compound, eugenol. Food amounts are generally safe, but concentrated clove oil and supplements can be irritating or toxic if overused, and human evidence for most health claims is limited. Talk to your pharmacist or doctor before using clove medicinally, especially in children or during pregnancy.

Syzygium aromaticum · Myrtaceae · Dried flower buds, leaves, and essential oil · Whole or ground spice, capsules, essential oil, topical gels, mouth rinses, teas

An interaction check asks whether these two react with each other — it does not ask whether Clove is a good idea for someone in your situation. Here is what our Clove record says about it on its own.

Clove: dosing

There is no official, well-established medicinal dose for clove. The amount used as a cooking spice is considered safe for most people.For supplements, capsules, and topical oils, the right amount depends on the specific product. Because clove oil is very concentrated, it should be diluted before use on the skin or gums and should not be swallowed.

From our Clove monograph — the full record covers uses, side effects and every documented interaction.

Read the full Clove monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Fidaxomicin

What Is Fidaxomicin Used For?

Brand name: Dificid

Fidaxomicin treats C. difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD) — a bacterial infection in the gut caused by Clostridioides difficile that leads to significant diarrhea and intestinal inflammation. Fidaxomicin tablets are approved for adult patients. Dificid (as tablets or oral suspension) is approved for both adults and children 6 months of age and older.

Because fidaxomicin works almost entirely inside the gut and is barely absorbed into the bloodstream, it is only effective against C. difficile and should not be used for any other type of infection.

Most-Reported Side Effects for Fidaxomicin

From FAERS, the FDA’s public side-effect reporting system (2,385 reports, all brands). Reports are voluntary and are not proof the drug caused the effect.

Clostridium difficile infection 480 reports
Diarrhea 350 reports
Disease recurrence 179 reports
Clostridium difficile colitis 161 reports
Nausea 125 reports
See full Fidaxomicin drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Clove

Browse every other medication we’ve checked against Clove — both the ones with a known interaction and the ones without. Select any drug for the full detail.

0Major
917Moderate
60Minor
1,852No known interaction
917 Moderate 60 Minor 1,852 No interaction
Moderate

917 interactions

Showing 60 of 917 moderate interactions — see all 917 on the Clove page.

Minor

60 interactions

No interaction 1,852 drugs checked — show the list

We also checked Clove against these medications and found no known interaction in our sources. Open any page to confirm.

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 1,852 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Clove list.

See the full Clove interactions page
See every supplement checked against Fidaxomicin, ranked by severity
Evidence & sources

Clove References

The 26 references that drive our Clove monograph and interaction data, from the evidence-graded Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) database. Citations with a link open the study on PubMed or the publisher’s site.

  1. The Review of Natural Products by Facts and Comparisons. St. Louis, MO: Wolters Kluwer Co., 1999.
  2. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. Title 21. Part 182 -- Substances Generally Recognized As Safe. Available at: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?CFRPart=182
  3. Kanerva L, Estlander T, Jolanki R. Occupational allergic contact dermatitis from spices. Contact Dermatitis 1996;35:157-62. PubMed
  4. Chen SJ, Wang MH, Chen IJ. Antiplatelet and calcium inhibitory properties of eugenol and sodium eugenol acetate. Gen Pharmacol 1996;27:629-33. PubMed
  5. Malson JL, Lee EM, Murty R, et al. Clove cigarette smoking: biochemical, physiological, and subjective effects. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2003;74:739-45. PubMed
  6. Kirsch CM, Yenokida GG, Jensen WA, et al. Non-cardiogenic pulmonary oedema due to the intravenous administration of clove oil. Thorax 1990;45:235-6. PubMed
  7. Pallares, D. E. Link between clove cigarettes and urticaria? Postgrad.Med 10-1-1999;106(4):153. PubMed
  8. Barnard, D. R. Repellency of essential oils to mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae). J Med Entomol. 1999;36(5):625-629. PubMed
  9. Sanchez-Perez, J. and Garcia-Diez, A. Occupational allergic contact dermatitis from eugenol, oil of cinnamon and oil of cloves in a physiotherapist. Contact Dermatitis 1999;41(6):346-347. PubMed
  10. Andersen, K. E., Johansen, J. D., Bruze, M., Frosch, P. J., Goossens, A., Lepoittevin, J. P., Rastogi, S., White, I., and Menne, T. The time-dose-response relationship for elicitation of contact dermatitis in isoeugenol allergic individuals. Toxicol.Appl PubMed
  11. Alqareer, A., Alyahya, A., and Andersson, L. The effect of clove and benzocaine versus placebo as topical anesthetics. J Dent 2006;34(10):747-750. PubMed
  12. Lane, B. W., Ellenhorn, M. J., Hulbert, T. V., and McCarron, M. Clove oil ingestion in an infant. Hum.Exp Toxicol. 1991;10(4):291-294. PubMed
  13. Quirce, S., Fernandez-Nieto, M., del, Pozo, V, Sastre, B., and Sastre, J. Occupational asthma and rhinitis caused by eugenol in a hairdresser. Allergy 2008;63(1):137-138. PubMed
  14. Srivastava, K. C. and Malhotra, N. Acetyl eugenol, a component of oil of cloves (Syzygium aromaticum L.) inhibits aggregation and alters arachidonic acid metabolism in human blood platelets. Prostaglandins Leukot.Essent.Fatty Acids 1991;42(1):73-81. PubMed
  15. Dyrbye, B. A., Dubois, L., Vink, R., and Horn, J. A patient with clove oil intoxication. Anaesth.Intensive Care 2012;40(2):365-366.

Medication overviews come from MedlinePlus (NIH); supplement label data from the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database. Content is written and reviewed by licensed HelloPharmacist pharmacists — see our data sources and editorial standards.

Pharmacist Counseling Corner

Taking Clove and Fidaxomicin Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Clove with Fidaxomicin?
We do not list a known interaction between Clove and Fidaxomicin. That does not guarantee the combination is risk-free, so confirm with your pharmacist or doctor — especially if you take other medications or have a health condition.
Do Clove and Fidaxomicin have any of the same side effects?
Yes — our sources link each of them separately to 2 of the same effects. That is not an interaction: neither changes how your body handles the other. It does mean that if one of those effects turns up, it can be harder to tell which one is behind it. They are listed on this page with the source behind each.
Are Clove and Fidaxomicin used for the same thing?
They overlap in purpose, which usually means the real question is whether you need both rather than whether they are safe together. This page lists the shared uses and how strong the evidence is for Clove in each. That is a conversation for your prescriber, especially if Fidaxomicin is being adjusted to a target.
How was the Clove and Fidaxomicin combination checked?
Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Fidaxomicin is filed under 4 classifications, and Clove has documented interactions with 7 drug classes — none of Fidaxomicin's classifications are among them. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded in our dataset, so this describes how the check was run rather than guaranteeing safety.
Does Clove interact with any other medications?
Yes. Clove has 977 documented drug interactions in our database — Fidaxomicin is simply not one of them. If you take anything else, it is worth checking each one; they are all listed on this page.
Does Fidaxomicin interact with any supplements?
Yes. Fidaxomicin has documented interactions with 92 supplements in our database — Clove is not one of them. The Fidaxomicin interaction page linked on this page lists every one, ranked by severity.

Written and reviewed by the HelloPharmacist editorial staff. Our editorial policy

Where next

Keep Exploring

Clove monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Fidaxomicin drug information The full plain-English guide to this medication Fidaxomicin supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Fidaxomicin, ranked by severity Supplement interaction checker Check any supplement or product against your medications Browse medications A–Z Every drug we’ve checked against herbs & supplements References The 26 citations behind this page Ask a pharmacist Free, personal answer from our licensed team

Still Have a Question About Fidaxomicin and Clove?

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This information is for education only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always check with your pharmacist or doctor before starting, stopping, or combining supplements and medications.