Slashdot Mirror
Gut Bacteria Cocktail May End Need for Fecal Transplants
sciencehabit writes "A tonic of gut microbes may be the secret recipe for treating a common hospital scourge. Researchers have pinpointed the exact mix of microbes required to cure mice of chronic infection by Clostridium difficile. The hard-to-treat bacterium infects alomst 336,000 in the US each year and causes bloating, pain, & diarrhea. A similar bacterial cocktail may be able to replace the current controversial treatment involving the intake of a healthy person's fecal matter to restore the right balance of microbes in the gut."
Kefir is even better, but hard to monetize so it's less common. Get some, keep a large jar and replenish with milk as required.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
This kind of treatment has been tested before and is an exciting possibility, but there have been failures in the past. Also, this is nothing like the yogurt cultures you know.
...... and idiots rule the world....
To get an idea of how gut bacteria are that important: we are made of about 10e13 human cells, and we contain 10e14 gut bacterial, for about 2 kg of mass. Let a subset of the gut bacteria population become hostile pathogens, and you see that we can easily be outnumbered by attackers.
It's not inserted into the stomach. Whoever wrote that doesn't know what the hell he's talking about, or is listening to someone who doesn't know what he's talking about. It's inserted into the small bowel via the colon using the same equipment used in colonoscopies. And it's not controversial. If you have C. diff, you are suffering so horribly that grossness of the procedure just doesn't enter the equation. And the fecal transplant method is incredibly effective, and incredibly quick to solve the problem. People who have been in agony for weeks get so much better in a few hours they can be discharged from the hospital. The only issue is that fecal transplants aren't yet covered by insurance. But they aren't that expensive, less than a grand out of pocket.
Come on, somebody had to say it!
but does your gut really get affected that much by your immune system?
Yes, a lot. The gut is the major organ involved with immunity. We are constantly sampling gut bacterial antigens, producing antibodies against the species that grow too much
Thyroïd problems impact gut immunity, and a low thyroid function is strongly associated with Candida Albicans proliferation, for instance
.
Yoghurt efficiency is not homeopathic lie.
From the "Québec Nationnalle health agency", an official document (PDF, French), page 36.
.
(Google traduction)"On primary prevention, in a recent double-blind presented American College of Gastroenterology where 44 patients who had a yogurt enriched lactobacilli were compared with 45 patients with placebo, the incidence of diarrhea was significantly lower in the group with probiotic (p = 0.01). However, in view specifically of diarrhea associated with Clostridium difficile, the difference between the groups was less significant (1 patient in the probiotic group vs 7 in the placebo group had an episode of CDAD, p = 0.058)."
Or lots of garlic, black pepper, some lemon juice, and bunch of lamb kabobs and flat bread. Mmm mmm baaa!
"It's not going in that end."
Generally, the root cause of a C. Diff infection is the course of antibiotics given to the the patient to treat another ailment. Once the course has concluded the normal diversity of gut flora is no longer present and the opportunity for C. Diff to overpopulate the gut arises. C. Diff is resistant to most antibiotics due to having a cyst phase in its life cycle that enables the bacteria to live on surfaces outside the bowel. Treatment with certain antibiotics including Flagyl or Vancomyacin may kill the C. Diff bacteria in the bowel but will also kill any other resident gut flora at the same time. If the patient comes in contact with C. Diff immediately following this second antibiotic course the infection will likely return. Often the physician will recommend live culture yogurt and other probiotics be ingested even during the C. Diff antibiotic treatment to promote a diversity of gut flora the moment the antibiotics are discontinued. This is not always successful and the treatment may have to repeated several times.
We really need your help
http://www.gofundme.com/help-sherry