University of Minnesota Clostridium difficile study published

Fecal Transplant Treats Serious, Recurrent Intestinal Infection
Excerpt:

Fecal transplants, using stool from a donor, have been successful at treating a serious gut infection, researchers report. The infection is called Clostridium difficile. It causes diarrhea and severe abdominal pain and kills thousands of people worldwide each year, the authors of the small study explained. It's believed that the infection overwhelms the good bacteria required to maintain a healthy intestine. The fecal transplant method was developed to treat people with C. difficile infections, particularly those who have repeat infections. Fecal matter is collected from a donor, purified, mixed with a saline solution and transferred to the patient, usually by colonoscopy. However, not much is known about the long-term stability of fecal transplants, the University of Minnesota researchers pointed out. The study, published in the current issue of the journal Microbiome, included 14 people who had recurring C. difficile infections. Four received fecal transplants. The healthy changes in the patients' intestinal bacterial populations ("microbiome") were sustained for up to 21 weeks after transplant, according to the report.

Comment: Full article of the study in Microbiome (too technical for me!). I am 837 days post Fecal Transplant