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Transplanting feces from one human to another may sound repulsive, but for patients suffering from recurrent, debilitating diarrhea caused by Clostridium difficile, a fecal transplant offers a ray of hope.
Using fecal transplants to treat recurrent Clostridium difficile infections (CDI)
Seeded on Tue Jan 17, 2012 4:53 PM EST
Article Source: CDC's Division of Healthcare Quality Promoti- Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.
- Public Discussion (4)
It increasingly appears that fecal transplants are effective in treating recurrent CDI. Though we await randomized controlled trials to confirm signs of efficacy, we at CDC are heartened by this potential treatment. Also, we are encouraged by our rapidly increasing understanding of the human microbiome, a term that refers to the entire population of microorganisms living on or inside us and all the genetic information possessed by these microorganisms.
- 2 votes
#1 - Tue Jan 17, 2012 4:53 PM ESTThis sounds gross, but it isn't the first time I heard of this procedure. Actually, I saw something about it on TV at least a couple of years ago. I know someone who is currently hospitalized and who contracted this nasty bug while in hospital, and the situation isn't pretty. Ironic that this article was seeded at this point in time...
- 2 votes
#2 - Tue Jan 17, 2012 8:31 PM ESTWell it isn't so much the faeces itself, but the bacteria that is in it that your body needs for proper digestion and absorption in the body. I THINK the treatment is that they literally clean out the recipients intestinal tract and then restore that bacterial presence with the donors.
I only quickly read about it about a year and a half ago and thought, ok, odd, never heard about it again until this.
- 1 vote
#3.1: but the bacteria that is in it that your body needs for proper digestion and absorption in the body.
True... and a darned good case for taking probiotic supplements, especially if taking antibiotics.
- 1 vote
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