Patients diagnosed with serious intestinal infections now have a new weapon to combat the bacteria: pills filled with poop.
Canadian researchers tested the new pills on 27 patients and cured them of their intestinal infections after powerful antibiotics failed.
Recent studies have shown that feces transplants — giving patients good bacteria from the feces of healthy people — can restore the proper balance of good bacteria in their intestines.
Good bacteria which normally resides in our intestines helps to keep the bad bacteria in check.
This is why the Colonic and colon cleansing fads are so risky and unnecessary, unless performed in a hospital for legit medical reasons.
When the good bacteria in our gut is wiped out (by colonics, antibiotics, etc.) the bad bacteria proliferates and makes us very sick.
Some people take Probiotics supplements, but these supplements only assist the good bacteria in our gut. If the good bacteria is wiped out the Probiotics will not be effective.
According to a report on MyFoxNY.com, 14,000 people die from Clostridium Difficile or C. Diff bacterial infections every year.
The so-called donor stool, usually from a relative, is processed in the lab and food and water are removed. The bacteria is extracted from the stool and cleaned. The resulting good bacteria is then packed into triple-coated gel capsules which the patient swallows.
The triple-coated gel capsules ensures that the pills will pass through the stomach and into the intestines before dissolving.
“There’s no stool left — just [good bacteria]. These people are not eating poop,” said Dr. Thomas Louie, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Calgary. “There are no smelly burps because the contents aren’t released until they’re well past the stomach, Louie added.
From MyFoxNY.com:
Days before starting the treatment, patients are given an antibiotic to kill the C-diff. On the morning of the treatment, they have an enema so “the new bacteria coming in have a clean slate,” Louie said.
It takes 24 to 34 capsules to fit the bacteria needed for a treatment, and patients down them in one sitting. The pills make their way to the colon and seed it with the normal variety of bacteria.
Louie described 27 patients treated this way on Thursday at IDWeek, an infectious diseases conference in San Francisco. All had suffered at least four C-diff infections and relapses, but none had a recurrence after taking the poop pills.
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