Ewwww, That's Gross!!

In the area of treating intestinal disorders such as Clostridium difficile (C. diff for short), irritable bowel syndrome and other similar disorders, fecal transplants have been a topic of conversation for a long time. As gross as it may seem, the idea of reestablishing a balance of normal flora to the gut seems quite logical in treating disorders which stem from an imbalance of intestinal flora.

History shows documentation of fecal transplants from as early as the 4th century where Chinese doctors would have patients ingest a "yellow tea" made of water and feces after watching sick animal consume the feces of other animals. The most important aspect is "does it work?" In a report published in the American Society for Microbiology's mBioSphere journal, scientists are claiming success in that fecal transplant treatments cure around 90% of those patients with C. diff infections.

Studying the various relationships and contributions of gut flora to human physiology may yield a tremendous amount for problems which could potentially be solved with fecal transplants.

Read the full article here: http://mbioblog.asm.org/mbiosphere/2014/06/fecal-transplants-really-do-work.html.