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Fecal transplants successful for treating C. difficile infection           

Distasteful though it sounds, the transplantation of fecal matter is more successful for treating Clostridium difficile infections than previously thought.

The research, published in the open access journal Microbiome, reveals that healthy changes to a patient’s microbiome are sustained for up to 21 weeks after transplant, and has implications for the regulation of the treatment.

Clostridium difficile infections are a growing problem, leading to recurrent cases of diarrhea and severe abdominal pain, with thousands of fatalities worldwide every year. The infection is thought to work by overrunning the intestinal microbiome - the ecosystem of microorganisms that maintain a healthy intestine.

Alexa Weingarden, Antonio Gonzalez, Yoshiki Vazquez-Baeza, Sophie Weiss, Gregory Humphrey, Donna Berg-Lyons, Dan Knights, Tatsuya Unno, Aleh Bobr, Johnthomas Kang, Alexander Khoruts, Rob Knight and Michael J Sadowsky

Dynamic Changes in Short- and Long-Term Bacterial Composition Following Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection

Microbiome 2015

DOI: 10.1186/s40168-015-0070-0