Up until recently, people infected with the bacterium Clostridium difficile usually could only be cured by receiving the fecal matter of healthy individuals, usually family members, mainly through direct injection into the gut. This method made most individuals hesitant. I learned a little bit about this method in microbiology and thought it was interesting to read up on the new method.
First, I should start with a little bit of information about Clostridium difficile. When a person is on antibiotics, usually for a long period of time, their body starts to suffer from the effects of antibiotics. Antibiotics are made to sweep out the bacteria; however, antibiotics are not selective of only the bad bacteria. In return, bacteria like Clostridium difficile gets into the raw, bacteria-less gut and wrecks havoc.
The new approach that scientists are taking in order to cure patients with this sickness is different than mentioned above. Healthy individuals, usually family members again, are confiscated of their fecal matter. The feces is then filtered to only contain the good, intestinal bacteria. Then, this bacteria is put into a capsule and given to the sick patient. Sounds like a way better idea, right?!
Here comes the downside: About 25+ capsules must be ingested by the sick person... all in one day... all on an empty stomach...
If you were sick, which of the two ways would you prefer? Old, new, or neither?
Mining medicine from poop
Wow, feces isn't something i would think of for curing people. In my parasitology class ingesting feces is one of the most common ways to become infected with a parasite. Although they do filter the fecal sample, I don't think I would completely trust the process. So I guess if I got sick with this bacteria I wouldn't really want either treatment.
ReplyDeleteThat's how I feel, but if I was in a dying situation, I would probably go ahead and take the filtered feces. A healthy individual is very important for this study, though.
DeleteIt's time we all started giving a crap about C. difficile!
ReplyDeleteThis is probably the best response that could come from this blog post!
DeleteThere is a lot of new research regarding poop. I'd like to think that the process they use to isolate this bacteria would remove any parasites that might be in the poop. Although, if this fecal matter comes from family members it might be fairly parasite clean. Also, thats a fun story to tell at the holidays...hey, do you remember that one time my poop healed you?
ReplyDeleteHaha that's a great story to tell over the holiday dinner table! I'm sure some people would immediately spit their food out and get mad!
DeleteOk so this new treatment sounded like a great idea until you mentioned taking 25+ capsules all in one day. Wow, that's a lot!!
ReplyDelete