The physicians performing the transplants decry the regulatory bottleneck because new treatments for C. difficile infection are critically needed. C. diff, to use the common medical shorthand, has risen in the past 30 years from a recognized but tolerated consequence of antibiotic treatment to a serious health threat. Since 2000, when a virulent new strain emerged, cases have become much more common, occurring not only in the elderly but in children, pregnant women and people with no obvious health risks. One study estimated that the number of hospitalized adults with C. diff more than doubled from about 134,000 patients in 2000 to 291,000 patients in 2005. A second study showed that the overall death rate from C. diff had jumped fourfold, from 5.7 deaths per million in the general population in 1999 to 23.7 deaths per million in 2004.
C. diff has also become harder to cure. Thanks to increasing antibiotic resistance, standard treatment now relies on two drugs: metronidazole (Flagyl) and vancomycin. Both medications are so-called broad-spectrum antibiotics, meaning that they work against a wide variety of bacteria. Thus, when they are given to kill C. diff infection, they kill most of the gut’s friendly bacteria as well. The living space that those bacteria once occupied then becomes available for any C. diff organisms that survive the drugs’ attack. As a result, roughly 20 percent of patients who have had one episode of C. diff infection will have a recurrence; 40 percent of those with one recurrence will have another; and 60 percent of those who experience a second bout are likely to suffer several more. Some victims with no other options must have their colon removed. (A new drug, fidaxomicin, which was approved for C. diff infection by the FDA in late May, may lead to fewer relapses because it is a narrow-spectrum antibiotic.)
A Simple Procedure
The details of how the transplantation of microbes eliminates C. diff infection have not been well studied, but Alex Khoruts, a gastroenterologist and immunologist at the University of Minnesota who has performed two dozen fecal transplants over the past two years, has demonstrated that the transplanted bacteria do take over the gut, replacing the absent friendly bacteria and outcompeting C. diff. In 2010 he analyzed the genetic makeup of the gut flora of a 61-year-old woman so disabled by recurrent C. diff that she was wearing diapers and was confined to a wheelchair. His results showed that before the procedure, in which the woman received a fecal sample from her husband, she harbored none of the bacteria whose presence would signal a healthy intestinal environment. After the transplant—and her complete recovery—the bacterial contents of her gut were not only normal but were identical to that of her husband.
Most clinicians who perform fecal transplants ask their patients to find their own donors and prefer that they be a child, sibling, parent or spouse. “For me, it’s aesthetic,” says Christina Surawicz, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington, who has done transplants on two dozen patients and published an account of the first 19. “There’s something very intimate about putting someone else’s stool in your colon, and you are already intimate with a spouse.”
To ensure safety, the physicians performing the procedure require that donors have no digestive diseases and put them through the same level of screening that blood donation would require. That process imposes a cost in time and logistics because standard rules for medical confidentiality require a donor to be interviewed separately from the potential recipient. It also carries inherent financial penalties. The donor’s lab work most likely will not be covered by insurance; the transplant procedure may or may not be covered by the patient’s insurance.
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39 Comments
Add CommentThanks, Maryn, for calling attention to the Catch-22 of developing better treatments for C. difficile colitis in your excellent article. There is a critical need for new diagnostics as well as new treatments. As an Infectious Diseases physician with a “View from the Trenches,” I’d like to add a bit of a different perspective.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFirst, C. diff colitis is much more difficult to treat than it used to be. It is not so uncommon to see acutely ill patients with life-threatening sepsis from colitis and need for urgent colectomy. Similarly chronic cases are far more recalcitrant to treatment and may require weeks of oral Vancomycin to prevent relapses.
The cost of treating C. diff is prohibitively expensive to many: Vancomycin pills cost $1-2000 per acute course, fidaxomicin $2800; some patients require prolonged, tapering courses of Vancomycin.
Regarding the issue of fecal transplants, some experts recommend not using household members as the source of fecal transplants, as they are more likely already colonized with C. diff. Similarly, donors are screened for infectious diseases as blood donors are, a time consuming and expensive process. Is this really necessary in all cases, when we have no good treatment options?
Frankly, with close household contacts, if there is not scrupulous hand hygiene, people often “eat shit,” euphemistically known as fecal-oral transmission. Any time anyone is less than meticulous in his or her handwashing after defecation, there is a high risk that that individual's hand will be contaminated with stool, which will be easily spread as the person subsequently touches things. Why not, in urgent cases and with proper informed consent, use stool from a close contact without extensive testing? It is inexpensive and readily available. Effective administration may well not require colonoscopy. The cost of such a fecal transplant--as low as an enema kit and blender...
While this is an unconventional approach, this solution would be “Quick and dirty.” If we had a standardized “recipe,” and a central outcomes registry, data could be gathered very quickly and inexpensively to meet this urgent need.
I'm glad you chose to highlight this issue, as it is an important, yet oft-overlooked one, both in terms of patient morbidity and mortality and in the dollar cost to all.
Judy Stone, MD
Author, "Conducting Clinical Research: A Practical Guide for Physicians, Nurses, Study Coordinators, and Investigators"
www.conductingclinicalresearch.com
Maryn McKenna's fascinating article left one question unanswered - will fecal transplants work for patients with chronic constipation?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI believe that baby elephants eat elephant dung for the same reason.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs a pediatrician I frequently saw chronic diarrhea starting to develop after acute diarrhea or antibiotic use. I recommended Lacto bacillis in the form of live culture yogurt or Lacto bacillis capsules which are approved for this purpose by the FDA. Although I had no control series I recall only one patient in which this did not suffice.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRobert A.Pastel, MD
While I believe fecal transplant is a viable treatment after the fact, prevention is a far more reasonable choice. My first colonoscopy in 2001 revealed that I had diverticulosis. Rather than allow it turn in to diverticulitis, I added whole flax seeds to my diet. My second colonoscopy in 2006 showed no trace of diverticulosis. Flax seed also cured my constipation. I was already wary of taking antibiotics and would have resisted any suggestion by a physician to do so. I am thankful I was able to avoid the nightmare of diverticular diarrhea and C. diff. *Note: Flax seed does not prevent the formation of polyps in the colon.*
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn the intestines more than 400 bacterial species co-exist all in a competing balance for receptor sites that assures their survival. It is this well known fact that when the microflora balance is altered the consequence is associated with health problems and diseases. The prevailing theory for such health upheaval is due to the overgrwoth of harmful bacteria,as C. Difficile,and the decline of benefecial bacteria,as various species of Lactobacilli. This tilting of the ratio in favor of the "bad" bacteria is indeed addressed in this article by Ms. M.McKenna. However, restoring a healthier bacterial balance in the digestive sytem preferably by means of fecal transplants is an archaic and obnoxious method of delivering the "friendly" bacteria. The existance of probiotics in food,as in yugart,or dietary supplements, as in capsules, delivered orally is by far a preferable delivery approach than coprophagic enemas; albeit all such methods are effective treating proliferation of C. Difficile. An advantage, if any, of fecal transplants could be a faster mode of action since the enema potentialy delivers the "friendly" bugs on site;thus, avoiding the deleterious effects of digestion that kills a good portion of the bacterial dose offered by the other orally delivery methods. The rise of C. Defficile infections from antibiotic treatments and the further use of them to treat such infections, is a therapy of desparation. Rebalancing normal bacterial gut flora allows the body's own natural state to resolve such infections and, as stated in the article , should be the first choice of treatment. However, indeed regulatory obstacles are abound, even when ample clinical evidence exists addressing the various health benefits of "friendly" bacterial colonization in the gut. Presently FDA's proposed stance is not viewing all bacterial microorganisms as dietary ingredients; this places all products containing them in question. In conclusion fecal transplants need be evaluated for any intrinsic benefit in comparison to the already marketed probiotic products offerd as food or as dietary supplements.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes indeed. However purchasing a good probiotic from the local health food store will achieve the same end result. Look at my comment in at the location you submitted your question.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's reported that gorillas eat their feces on a regular basis. Could this be a reason ?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"a complex combination of federal regulations and research rules—along with just plain squeamishness—could keep the procedure from helping potentially thousands of people who might benefit"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd yet if a Dr. decided to use some drug "off label" to help her that would have been allowed without question.
There is nothing new about fecal enemas. They fell out of favor due to squeamishness a few decades ago. Doctors used them in the old hospital ward days for malnutrition and antibiotic diarrhea because they worked. Had to keep it on the DL, though. Ask the oldest surgeon you know about it and watch him squirm.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have watched my dogs eat horse dung for years. I think I now know why.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe antibiotic kills bacteria and the WRONG bacteria colonise which would explain why you treat successfully with lactobaccilus pills ? They have shown some GOOD bacteria have evolved not to require iron. Some BAD bacteria DO require iron though.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Iron is critically important to the growth of most species of bacteria, including pathogens, and its availability is what restricts their growth. It is well known that pathogens increase growth rate by up to 8,000 times when exposed to increased levels of iron. Lactic acid bacteria are unusual as they have evolved not to require iron, and so do not increase growth rate when exposed to it. "
"An increase in iron levels, which happens during active IBD, inhibits the growth of probiotic bacteria, including Lactobacillus"
The consumption of a high iron / meat / iron fortified foods after the antibiotic causes an increase of those iron requiring bacteria which OVERWHELMS the lactobaccilus bacteria which does NOT require iron . The overgrowth of bad bacteria is WHY the introduction of good bacteria / feces or yoghurt or lactobaccilus works ?
The antibiotic kills bacteria and the WRONG bacteria colonise which would explain why you treat successfully with lactobaccilus pills ? They have shown some GOOD bacteria have evolved not to require iron. Some BAD bacteria DO require iron though.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Iron is critically important to the growth of most species of bacteria, including pathogens, and its availability is what restricts their growth. It is well known that pathogens increase growth rate by up to 8,000 times when exposed to increased levels of iron. Lactic acid bacteria are unusual as they have evolved not to require iron, and so do not increase growth rate when exposed to it. "
"An increase in iron levels, which happens during active IBD, inhibits the growth of probiotic bacteria, including Lactobacillus"
The consumption of a high iron / meat / iron fortified foods after the antibiotic causes an increase of those iron requiring bacteria which OVERWHELMS the lactobaccilus bacteria which does NOT require iron . The overgrowth of bad bacteria is WHY the introduction of good bacteria / feces or yoghurt or lactobaccilus works ?
Iron overload: One more reason to switch from meat eating to plant food! Hem-iron , like industrial sugar, is manna for the baddies - this applies not only to bad gut bacteria, but also the other most unwelcome intestinal guests: cancer cells; they also rely on iron for their growth! Stands to reason why carnivores like lions have only half the lifespan of herbivores..
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisInteresting also, that in the animal kingdom, ' natural gut grafts' are 'in', like from Mother Koala to baby, too.
The animals quoted: elephants, gorilla, koala, are ALL strict raw vegetarians, by the way, which, to me, makes more and more sense overall, if we want to to stay alive longer, and in a healthy way.
youthevity.com
With no drug company standing to profit from this, I wonder there will be enough resources to push a treatment like this through the FDA bureaucracy...? Useful is great, but it's another example of needing to question whether the government is helping or hindering progress.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI remember hearing about FT years ago, but never thought I would ever need to do it. However, when you see your youngest child wasting away from chronic diseases and no one can fix it, you do what you have to do. My 8 year old has battled MRSA, Strep, Clostridium difficile and a number of other nasty bugs for years. She has autism, Chron's, severe allergies and PANDAS (pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcus) which causes her body to go stiff for hours at a time, OCD, motor and verbal tics. Taking high doses of antibiotics would stop the PANDAS/OCD for a while, but each one was only good for a while, then it would loose its effectiveness. Her OCD would go away remarkably, then come back with a vengeance. OCD was taking over her life. She dropped to 1% on the weight chart and couldn't keep a pound on her.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEach time she has been on antibiotics, it has wiped out the good bacteria as well as the bad. There are only a handful of probiotic strains commercially available and around 500 in the gut. Most of those can't be cultured in a lab but they can be transplanted. Fecal Transplant has been tested in hospitals for Chron's, C. diff and IBS. It works, so our doctor (MD) asked us to give it a try.
Finding a healthy donor has been the hardest part, but eventually we found someone willing and our doctor had his stool tested. Our transfer method is actually quite easy. We opted for a capsule because it is the least invasive and very do-able. I encapsulate the stool in a size 0 gel cap, wipe, and re-encapsulate two more times in larger capsules with cellulose in between the layers. We keep it in the freezer and she takes it twice a week on an empty stomach.
This has been huge for my daughter - there is nothing like seeing her health return. The results we have seen so far from May to August have been better sleeping, less allergic rashes, huge decrease in OCD/motor tics, no daytime pee accidents/less night wetting, increased attention span, and much closer to normal microbial labs.
In August I ran out of my prepared capsules and my daughter tanked a few weeks later. We were off for 6 weeks and it really put us back to square one with OCD, urinary incontinence, poor sleeping and loosing weight. Now we've been back to 2 a week for about 2 months and things are slowly improving. So the good thing is we know that it's working, and I have no intention of running out of capsules for a good long time.
Thanks all for your thoughtful comments! "FecalTransplantsWorkedForUs," that is a fascinating story.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWith regard to the probiotics that some of you mentioned, a number of physicians do prescribe them, but the science supporting probiotic use is not yet well-established — and a bigger problem, I think, is that because they are unregulated commercial products, what they contain (and whether they contain what the labels say they do) is uncertain, and therefore their effects may not be reliable or repeatable.
Maryn McKenna’s article “Swapping Germs” [Scientific American, December, 2011] adds support to the argument made by Sharon Begley in her article, “The Best Medicine” [Scientific American, July, 2011]. In the latter piece, Ms. Begley makes the fervent point that much of the outrageous expense of government-subsidized clinical trials can be saved by “mining the data base” of information gathered by substantially less expensive comparative effectiveness research (CER).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe fact that patients like myself must suffer for years from the incapacitating effects of Clostridium difficile (C. diff) -- before government-sponsored researchers complete their long-term clinical trials -- when successful treatments are already available is a travesty. Isn’t it enough that the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology remarks in Ms. McKenna’s piece that “it is clear from all these reports that fecal bacteriotherapy ... has arrived as a successful therapy ...”?
How many diligent and experienced physicians does it take to convince a handful of obstructing bureaucrats that a treatment works? It is a shame that millions of us must seek less effective alternative treatments to “tide us over” until clinical trials designed to test the effectiveness of such treatments are approved and executed. In my case, my gastroenterologist, Martin J. Collen, MD, MBA (currently at William Beaumont Army Medical Center, El Paso, TX), has prescribed a clostridium-difficile toxin-binder to relieve my symptoms. By binding to the toxins produced by the bacteria, the prescription -- mixed with water or other beverage -- has succeeded in relieving my symptoms.
All that the Health Care system of America really needs is an army of caring competent physicians, and their informed and cooperative patients, to “call the shots” in defense of their good health. It doesn’t take an army of government lawmakers and their department officials who would rather “mine our pockets” than the CER data base.
Mark J. Handwerker, B.S., Ph.D.
Menifee, California
Fascinating article. It makes a lot of sense. But my mother's experience with C. Diff may give hope for a less "icky" approach that could work for some people.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn November 2010, my 91-year-old mother had been struggling for months with diarrhea caused by C. Diff, and after several futile courses of the appropriate antibiotics her doctors told her that there was nothing more they could do for her and that she would likely decline from that point.
I then found a January 2004 article in the Journal of Medical Microbiology (http://jmm.sgmjournals.org/cgi/content/full/53/6/551) that gave us some hope. The authors had tested 50 strains of lactobacilli against 23 strains of C. Diff, in order to determine which kinds of lactobacilli might be useful in treating C. Diff infections. Of the 50 strains of lactobacilli, they found 5 ("good ones," I'll call them) that were antagonistic to all 23 strains of C. Diff. Of the five good ones, two were of the Lactobacillus paracasei species and three were of the Lactobacillus plantarum species. (Lactobacillus has lots of species, the most famous being Lactobacillus acidophilus, which was effective against some but not all species of C. Diff that they tested. Lactobacillus delbreuckii and Lactobacillus buchneri were the other two general species that were effective against certain strains of C. Diff.)
With that information, we looked for some kind of probiotic pill or food or drink that contained paracasei or plantarum, and we found just one: a drink called "Goodbelly." It can be bought online and in certain food stores and it contains Lactobacillus plantarum.
We then had my mother quit taking antibiotics (I think that's crucial before taking any probiotic) and start drinking a small bottle of Goodbelly two or three times a day for a few weeks. She soon recovered fully from the diarrhea and the C. Diff.
I recommend Goodbelly to anyone suffering from C. Diff. It's easy, it doesn't require a doctor's intervention, it's not at all "icky," and it just may work. I think it probably saved my mother's life.
I agree with bugdoc 100%.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThanks for bringing more attention to this problem; and commenters to the expense of dealing with it and the value of good probiotics after antibiotics to prevent it. But no where in the literature have I seen any recognition that xylitol may help. Long ago Paul Naaber showed that xylitol significantly reduces the ability of C. diff to hold on to intestinal cells, and if they can't hold on there is no problem. So why, when someone is diagnosed with C. diff don't we tell them to put a teaspoon of xylitol in their coffee or tea and sip on it all day. A significant side benefit would be no more tooth decay. And if you spray it in your nose you can optimize your nasal defenses. See my book NO MORE ALLERGIES, ASTHMA, OR SINUS INFECTIONS for more of what xylitol can do.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSwapping Germs.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI read this in article with interest, though I felt that the procedures described seemed unnecessarily invasive. Then I remembered that in hand raising orphaned marsupials it is standard practice to give the joeys a "shitshake" made by mixing some adult droppings into the standard milk mixture, and wondered if the same procedure could be employed in these cases. If it worked, it would be an extremely simple way of achieving the desired result, although patients might feel some squeamishness on aesthetic grounds.
I then wondered how the normal flora is established in human infants. No doubt our ancestors mothers transferred an ample quantity of their own digestive flora to their babies food on their hands, but this process will have become more problematical with our obsession with hygiene, and perhaps the routine use of this procedure with babies would help to reduce the current epidemic of food allergies and related illnesses.
Roger Riordan AM
Director, the Cybec Foundation
The science of probiorics is well established with clinical trials. Log on pubmed.com and you will find plenty evidence of their effectivness.As for the commercial products "not being regulted' this is becoming an old abadge. The dietary supplement industry has been extensivelly regulted especially the past 5 years. Let's not do denigrations when lack of information is apparent.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGorillas eat their feces, among other reasons, to get some B12 vitamin (lacking in ther herbivorous diet)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSee this reference http://wheredogorillasgettheirprotein.blogspot.com/2010/01/where-do-gorillas-get-their-vitamin-b12.html
Just posted a little interview with Dr. Mark Davis. He offers Fecal Microbial Therapy as part of his natural medicine practice in Portland, Oregon. Read about it at http://fecaltransplant.info/fecal-microbial-therapy-provider-dr-mark-davis/
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisVisit my Fecal Transplant advocacy blog for more information
or www [dot] fecaltransplant [dot] info
A trustworthy source of gut flora is available from the patient, her/himself, if taken in advance of antibiotic use, which is often anticipated therapy preceding and following surgery, for instance, or administered for bacterial infections, or potential bacterial infections of all kinds. The patient is in an advantageous position to collect the sample(s).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSperm and ova are frozen for future use. The FDA doesn't test these body products, I believe. The Lab imposes exams and integrity testing. Hell, some donors are paid. Law, I understand, affords a statutory vehicle so that men are free to donate their sperm without fear of liability for children, for instance. Umbilical cords are being preserved against future, personal need. The technology exists. Why not collect healthy poo from healthy people, maybe before ever interacting with an antibiotic, and preserve it in enteric (oral) capsule form for auto-recall or donation on an as- needed basis. Wouldn't it be cheaper than treating c. difficile, the extreme, and all other guaranteed destructive gut results of antibiotic administration?
There is a blood bank. Sperm banaks. Would a poo bank be out of the question?
Antibiotics were first manufactured in 1942. The short term, friendly-fire 'side effects' have been known forever. Antibiotics have even come into common "preventive" use in meat animals The medical community has ignored the sequelae, forever. Time to pay attention.
Barbara Torode, Philadelphia
Couple thoughts:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this1: Seems to me a related donor would be ideal, particularly if they were "colonized" with C. diff, as they would also have bacteria/fungi/protozoa/archaea which compete with or feed on C. diff.
2: re using "a good probiotic", vs fecal transplant:
Probiotics list maybe 5-10 species of bacteria. Granted, they probably carry more that haven't been identified, but a healthy human gut contains 500-1000 species that we know of. And we're still discovering microbes we didn't know existed, such as archaea. Taking probiotics to repopulate the gut is a little like taking a vitamin supplement instead of eating real foods. We've still only begun to scratch the surface of the complex workings of microbiology and nutrition. The more I read, the more I realize we don't know.
Working with what's been put in place by nature, in the form of a healthy donor's intestinal flora, makes more sense than trying to grow intestinal flora outside the body, or trying to carpet bomb the gut of a symptomatic patient, in hopes of killing the offending microbe.
There's a simple policy that will fix this and a host of other regulatory problems. Anything not specifically outlawed is permissible, and requires neither approval nor notification.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisInteresting, but it's probably better to try first the ancestral probiotics like kefir from real kefir grains or others like raw sauerkraut or bio-vineger, did not experiment with these last two (when chosing a sort of probiotic, intuitively the more naturally acid the better, because it will resist better the stomac natural acidity and go further along). By my own experience I can tell that it works well for candida albicans and much better than the tiny probiotics pills even if these are working too if they are able to wake up fast!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs a veteran ICU nurse, I've seen (and smelled and cleaned) more C-diff than I care to remember. In fact, one time I was cleaning a patient who was lying in a good size ocean of the stuff and there was a splash -- that landed directly on my lip. I was all gowned and gloved and already up to my elbows in the stuff and there wasn't much I could do about it immediately. (All in a day's fascinating work for a nurse.)Shortly after, I developed diarrhea which lasted a month before I finally decided to see the MD. I even lost 10 lbs. If I remember correctly, I took flagyl for about a month and it cleared up completely.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe new connection between proton pump inhibitors and C-diff is interesting, as roughly 100% of our patients are on proton pump inhibitors. All I can say is thank god for rectal tubes -- when they work.
Thank you, Maryn, a million times, for writing this article. I just visited my nearly 91-year-old mom, three weeks after her fecal implant procedure. She had been fighting Clostridium difficile for over six months, ever she became very ill after a hospital stay. She had been spending thousands of dollars on probiotics, flagyl, Dificid (fidaxomicin), and Vancomycin. Continuing to take very expensive doses of Vancomycin was the only one of those treatments that was effective -- but she needed to keep taking it to keep the C. diff at bay.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFinally, my sister read your article and talked about trying to have this done. Although I had heard of the idea of fecal implants before, I hadn't made the connection to my mother's illness. Our family began trying to get an appointment for our mom to have the procedure (that in itself took months, as the few MDs who will perform it are now swamped with requests).
Three weeks later we can call it a success. If it hadn't been for your magazine article, I don't think we would have pushed for the procedure to be done, and my mom might have had to continue taking Vancomycin... who knows, maybe indefinitely.
So, I'd like you to know that your article has had a wonderful effect for at least one family. THANK YOU!
Are you saying that since YOU never saw anyone with chronic diarrhea after being treated with Lacto bacillis (a VERY common treatment indeed) that therefore it does not exist?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWho are these people then who have this problem after taking antibiotics and after trying Lacto bacillis along with other similar probiotics whether in FDA approved bottles or in yogurt?
Are they not real because the children you treated got better?
OK. No it won't necessarily. The stomach is an acidic and very dangerous environment for some of the more delicate bacteria strains. There are numerous papers published showing that probiotics taken orally don't always make it to the intestines in the numbers that a body may need.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm guessing that you have not had this problem - or you have and it was resolved with some yogurt and probiotics. Well, such is not the case for many people.
You must not be familiar with the uphill battle that some people must fight to get their intestines back to working order where they are not leaking feces - not to mention the pain involved with gas and mal-formed feces.
How bad do you think it has to get for someone to agree to shove another person's poop up their butt??
Pretty bad, I'm guessing.
So, good for you. The probiotic worked for you.
I read years ago in a magazine that within four days of birth human mothers transfer their bacteria to the baby's innards. I always thought soap wasn't 100% reliable as sooner or later with all the millions there are, a microbe is going to hang on between the ridges of your fingerprints.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTo "FecalTransplantsWorkedForUs", I hope your daughter is doing well. Can you post an update on her condition, and whether you continued with the capsules? I would very much like to know how you came up with the using the capsules, and can you please give more details about how you prepare them safely. How you could be sure you wouldn't infect your daughter with e coli or other condition associated with swallowing feces?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs a doctor, I would hope you know the difference between antibiotic associated diarrhea and a clostridium difficile infection. Ask any sufferer from this disease if they have tried your yogurt remedy. BY. THE. GALLON.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFecal transplants raise several red flags of pseudoscience. By using the reliable Balogne Detection Kit, we should really approach this with skepticism. The fact that 80% of this article is dedicated to anecdotal, uncontrolled, self-reported testimonials is surprising given that this is supposed to be a science based publication that should require a scientific standard of evidence. I give credit that the lack of such studies is acknowledged, albeit at the tail end of the piece, but the sentiment that this is surely a efficacious treament in advance of any such studies, based solely on self reported testimonials, is premature to say the least. I'll wait for several large, well run, studies (yes to future repliers, I mean studies that are; Large, Well Run, Non self reported data, and several of them) to draw the conclusion that this is indeed bunk, but I remain skeptical of its safety and plausibility for now.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisReply to Arevno (comments 6 and 7): only a few probiotics have been mapped, but there are hundreds if not thousands of different bacteria in the gut. As you say yourself: it's a competing balance. Just bringing a bunch of probiotics in the gut just isn't on the same level. Yoghurt bacteria are nice, but they are just yoghurt bacteria, not that rich gut, that rainforest, that ecosystem inside us. Purchasing a good probiotic from the local health food store WON'T achieve the same end result.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn reply to Pvinet: of course it won't meet your high (I would say cynical) standards, but please read this: http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Fecal+transplants+cure+most+cases+difficile+first+clinical+trial/7829268/story.html
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt must be hard to get your head around ways of curing people that don't use expensive big pharma medicines, that make their shareholders even richer then they already are, but just use nature (i.e. poo) around (i.e. in) us, isn't it?