(Not the Onion) Feces transplant may help relieve severe diarrhea

[CE5]

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_22393571/feces-transplant-may-help-relieve-severe-diarrhea

Feces transplant may help relieve severe diarrhea

By Gene Emery, Reuters Health
Posted: 01/17/2013 09:36:40 AM PST
Updated: 01/17/2013 09:37:42 AM PST

It may sound like the most unappealing treatment available, but a small new study has concluded that inserting fecal material from a healthy person into the gut of someone with severe diarrhea may cure their problem more effectively than antibiotics.

The study, which appears in the New England Journal of Medicine, involved patients who had repeated bouts of diarrhea caused by a bacterium known as Clostridium difficile. So-called C. diff can take over the intestines after antibiotic treatment has killed off the beneficial bacteria found in the gut.

One transplant of fecal material from a volunteer - with its mix of healthy bacteria - resolved severe diarrhea in 13 out of 16 volunteers. Standard treatment with an antibiotic, in comparison, worked in four of 13 patients.

"This is the first hard evidence that has been provided for the treatment," senior author Dr. Josbert Keller of the University of Amsterdam told Reuters Health.

[slackmaster]

1. Is there a way to isolate and implant just the disirable bacteria...

...with all the icky parts removed?

[CE5]

2. I would hope that's how they do it.

[jberryhill]

3. Republicans have been using it to treat headaches for years

[CE5]

6. Yeah look at S.E. Cupp

Or as I like to call her: "1 Girl 1 Cupp"

[ohiosmith]

4. No shit?!

[Recursion]

5. There's some research on this and MS, too

Autoimmune is weird

[Blue_Tires]

7. Good luck with that... I'll be happy to just outlast my sicknesses instead...

[CE5]

9. I think it's for people with chronic

[Fire Walk With Me]

8. I don't give a shit.

[blm]

10. Can it work on all the sh!t-for-brains running congress?

.

[KittyWampus]

11. "first hard evidence". It's too easy…..

[DJ13]

12. One A Day, now with added fecal matter!

[angrychair]

13. I'm not taking any crap from you!

[napoleon_in_rags]

14. This is great medicine.

Some pure, scientific thinker came up with a way to transfer healthy lifeforms into a person who doesn't have them. No fancy pharmaceuticals, no huge cost, just good science. Of course it will be more appealing once they isolate just the effective parts of the healthy fecal matter, probably just the good bacteria... But its good to see science overcoming the "ick" factor.

[Liberal_in_LA]

15. +10

[Nye Bevan]

16. It sounds disgusting but reading the article, the cure rate is absolutely astounding.

I am in awe of whoever did this kind of out-of-the-box thinking that allows this awful illness to be cured.

[Canuckistanian]

17. I've heard of this for more serious problems than diarrhea

There's a lot we dont' know about the interactions of various bacterii in the gut. This therapy promises hope to those with compromised gut flora.

[TexasBushwhacker]

18. I wonder if they tried Florastor first

I had deep, dirty laceration and unrelenting diarrhea after taking a course of heavy antibiotics. First I tried taking Acidophilus but that did nothing. Then I found out about something called Florastor which is specifically for restoring the good bacteria (the flora) in the gut. I only had to take it a couple of days. You can buy it at Walgreens.