Fecal Transplants....What a Way to Treat C. Difficile!

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I read a very interesting article today about new research which involves taking fecal material from a healthy donor and transplanting it into the duodenum of people suffering from Clostridium Difficile infections. Seems like this treatment is much more effective than using antibiotics to treat these difficult infections since it is thought to reconstitute the normal gut bacterial flora and thus get rid of the C. Difficile.

Another use for something we are normally eager to dispose of on a regular basis.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/fecal-...ifficile-first-clinical-trial-shows-1.1118027

 

Hi Kevin,

Not only is this fascinating, but there is more on the horizon regarding GI flora and disease.

I understand that the ability to assess the genetics of the individual bacteria which colonize the gut is now being used to assess a wide variety of human diseases, and not just those of the GI tract. Specific bacteria will be identified and tied to specific disease, and then provided as a method of management.

Howard

 

In the same vein, there was a recent Italian study finding that Colic in babies is due to improper bacterial succession in the GI tract using the same DNA testing of fecal bacteria.
The reason that there are more organisms currently found in the gut is that many are anaerobic organisms which were not able to be cultured.

Regards,
Stanley