The Power of Fecal Transplants

This is a funny remedy to talk about in polite company. It’s using fecal transplants to stop a virulent bacteria infection that leads to inflammation of the colon and severe diarrhea. I call this the “poop solution.” 

This infection sickens up to a half a million Americans and kills nearly 30,000 each year. The thing that makes the condition so dangerous is that it tends to strike more than once as it comes back in 30% of the people who get it.

The way docs treat it is with antibiotics like Vancomycin and Dificid. 

There’s now a proven better way to stop C. diff infections and it’s using fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). The research is showing that FMT has a better cure rate and a lower recurrence rate than antibiotics. This study was reported in the journal EClinicalMedicine.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham in the UK found that FMT is both more effective and less costly than antibiotics. 

The problem is not the treatment but that professional guidelines still recommend antibiotics as the first-line treatment for C. diff.

Also, don’t be concerned as the donor is screened for any health conditions that could be spread through the feces. The donor’s stool is emulsified, filtered and sometimes frozen to preserve healthy gut bacteria. 

While this study didn’t look at the effectiveness of oral capsules or enemas, they did compare having the FMT administered by colonoscopy or by a nasogastric tube. The researchers found that the nasogastric tube method was the least expensive treatment, and it was more effective than antibiotics.

So…if C. diff hits, you may have to educate your doc that there’s an alternative that’s better and cheaper than the usual use of antibiotics!
(Reported Bottom Line Health 2022)