C. difficile
infections are horribly uncomfortable for patients causing painful
bloating,
cramping, and excessive diarrhea. In
fact, certain strains of C. difficile cause about 250,000
hospitalizations and
14,000 deaths each year in the U.S. The quest for new types of therapy
is because of two big dilemmas with regards to antibiotic treatment.
There is increased antibiotic resistance and they
have a detrimental effect on normal gut flora which protect the body
from
harmful pathogens. So here’s the scoop…there’s now hope with ingesting poop!
Many of you
are probably thinking…ingesting stool that sounds rather disgusting but in fact
it is actually pretty brilliant! This
unique treatment has been the focus of current study at Massachusetts General Hospital
(MGH). A recent press release from the hospital describes this study’s objective to
investigate whether delivering FMT orally through capsules designed to open
upon reaching the small intestine would be just as effective as other more
invasive treatments such as delivering frozen fecal material for FMT either by
colonoscopy or nasogastric tube.
image above from: