As an update for the Transplanting Feces blog post within this site, the Columbus Dispatch says that the OSU’s Wexner Medical Center is now performing this treatment in Ohio.
Treatment for the deadly “superbug” Clostridium difficile is stated as being 95% effective. It is estimated to kill 14,000 a year in the US alone.
The procedure, which transfers good bacteria in a fecal transplant, treats the infection that can cause diarrhea, fever and other symptoms. The disease usually is picked up in health-care facilities or from antibiotics, which can disrupt the normal bacteria in the bowel.
What is interesting in this procedure is that it does not involve (many?) drugs. And, what procedure in the United States, performed within a hospital does not involve drugs? On top of that, it is used as antibiotics, another drug, are not effective.
But, as I write this, the Dispatch article also states:
“The FDA recently began to discuss regulating the transplants and now requires doctors to fill out a new-drug application before performing them.”
It hinges on the natural process the body uses to process and digest food. The naturally occurring bacteria in the gut prevents the “diarrhea, fever and other symptoms”. It will be interesting to see what drug the FDA wants to associate with this procedure.
Eye on the Ball 
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