Oklahomans' fecal transplant aims to kill colon superbug

[meegbear]

Some Oklahoma patients are opting for an admittedly gross procedure to kill superbugs living in their colons.

Integris Baptist Medical Center doctors recently gave fecal transplants to three patients suffering from Clostridium difficile, also called C-diff.

It is the most common cause of infectious diarrhea in hospitals and nursing homes, and leads to several thousand deaths annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The transplant involves taking human waste from a healthy person and injecting it via colonoscopy in a person with C-diff, said Dr. Mark Mellow, medical director of the Integris Digestive Health Center.

The aim is for the good bacteria to eradicate the bad bacteria, C-diff.

While the procedure is new to most U.S. hospitals, Australian doctors report success rates nearing 90 percent of patients, Mellow said.

Many people with C-diff are elderly and got sick after receiving antibiotics for other infections. Antibiotics can wipe out the good bacteria that keep bad bacteria in check.

http://www.newsok.com/oklahomans-fecal-transplant-aims-to-kill-colon-superbug/article/3387333

[Burma Jones]

1. When I was prescribed antibiotics for diverticulitis, I was told to eat a lot of Yogurt

to replace the good bacteria.....

But, given a dire situation, I guess fecal transplants is the shit.....

[ananda]

4. I took a cyclosporin antibiotic a couple of months ago..

.. and it didn't affect my gut or intestines at all.

I specifically asked for an antibiotic that wouldn't.

However, I do realize that different antibiotics work
for different ailments...

[Warpy]

14. I was taking antibiotics the size of goat boluses until a few days ago

and compensated by eating a lot of yogurt with live cultures.

That doesn't prevent all problems, but it does seem to help with colon health.

[Ken Burch]

20. That's good. One question:

Are you able to get very far from your house?

[Warpy]

33. That's what the yogurt was for

and yes, if I could have managed to walk that far.

I was taking those suckers because I was sick.

[northernlights]

29. anaerobic versus aerobic bacteria

(I don't have my notes in front of me, so am going from memory here)

I suspect that yoghurt bacteria is aerobic, so would only help bacteria living above the "e. coli" line. Anaerobic bacteria wouldn't survive the oxygenated environment to make it to the colon.

Basically, the duodenum, small intestine (and possibly upper part of the colon) are colonized by aerobic bacteria.

Then come bacteria such as (hopefully nonvirulent strains of) e. coli, which can live with or without O2, and which remove O2 from the environment.

Below them in the large colon live the anaerobic bacteria, such as c. difficile. They can't survive in an environment with O2, so dietary supplements to replace them won't work since they'd be exposed to O2 all the way down the hatch, so to speak.

[jgraz]

2. Vets do this with birds all the time

Unfortunately, the birds get it put down their throats. :puke:

[SoCalDem]

3. Paging Dr. Frankenstein..pick up the white phone

gross, indeed..:)

[Ken Burch]

15. ...er, shouldn't that be "the BROWN phone"?

n/t.

[SoCalDem]

26. you are so right

:rofl:

[guitar man]

5. It's gross, but if it works

My mom got C-Diff in the Oklahoma nursing home where she is a resident and it was a bad deal, took her a long time to get over it. If I mention this to her though, she will probably ask why the food they feed her didn't cure her. :rofl:

[plcdude]

6. Another thing

to worry about while living in Oklahoma don't you just love it!

[maxsolomon]

7. is this problem exclusive to OK?

that'll teach em to poach our Sonics!

[Ken Burch]

17. I suppose this explains why they renamed them "The Thunder".

(...c'mon, you know you all WANTED to say it...)

[Turbineguy]

8. The Oklahoma

steamer?

[enlightenment]

9. A lot of medicine is gross, but effective.

If this is effective, I'll live with gross. It's better than dying of explosive diarrhea.

[Ken Burch]

24. Especially while visiting friends.

n/t.

[Warpy]

10. It works best when treated as a transplant

and donations obtained from the patient's family.

Although it sounds awful, the bacteria that live inside our healthy guts are what keep the nasty things like C. difficile under control. Transplants of those bugs from the colons of healthy family members restore the patient's colon to close to his normal state.

Treating an antibiotic induced infection with another antibiotic works, but doesn't correct the underlying problem.

Now if we could just get those old folks to eat yogurt with live cultures while they're on antibiotics, maybe there would be fewer of them with C. diff.

[MercutioATC]

11. They can't just use some kind of bacteria suppository?

They actually have to use another person's feces???

[Warpy]

18. The suppository sits in the rectum

The scope is necessary to deliver the bacteria to the upper colon.

[MercutioATC]

23. Ok, so mix up a medium of the right consistency and put bacteria in it.

Use the scope to get it where it needs to be.

My issue is using other peoples' feces (and, admittedly, simply because of the "ewwww" factor).

[Warpy]

35. The problem is that those bacteria live in the gut

and are destroyed by sunlight.

A poop transfer might arouse the ick factor but it's the most efficient way.

[Ken Burch]

21. Do they need to do donor matching?

This could lead to a REALLY weird episode of "Grey's Anatomy".

[northernlights]

27. Grey's Anatomy already did an episode on it

A women self-medicated with internet-aquired antibiotic and wiped out all the bacteria in her colon. They did a fecal transplant with her husband.

[Ken Burch]

28. Dear God...why am I not surprised?

n/t.

[Davis_X_Machina]

12. At last a useful social role...

...for Bill Kristol, George Will, Charles Krauthammer, etc.

I do not know how widespread the disorder is, but we've got the resources to treat a national epidemic, without going beyond the Beltway.

[Ken Burch]

13. Would the medical team BOTHER scrubbing up for that procedure?

...just askin'...

:puke:

[Warpy]

16. Yes

They don't want the MRSA that might be on the surface of their skin to contaminate the scope.

They'll also glove for the procedure.

[Ken Burch]

19. Well, I'd damn sure HOPE they gloved.

(and then burned the gloves afterwords).

[Warpy]

34. After taking care of C. diff patients

I wanted to burn my whole uniform, never mind I wore a gown on top of it. I was disciplined enough to make a beeline for the washer and strip before I hit a shower with surgical soap.

Trust me, healthy poo is nothing compared to that.

[Aristus]

22. Full of shit is bad. Full of someone else's shit...I just don't have the words...

n/t

[Ken Burch]

25. And I've heard of the Blood Bank, but.....?

:wow: :wow: :wow: :wow:

[Sinistrous]

30. I thought this was going to be about relocating Inhofe.

[valerief]

32. LOL!!!!!

:rofl:

[madamesilverspurs]

31. Fecal transplants.

Interesting and informative.

But in all honesty I thought it was going to be a story about dittoheads.

[Sebastian Doyle]

36. As if health care in this country wasn't shitty enough as it is.

Now they went and made it a formal treatment.

[Ken Burch]

37. Worst thing is, most people's hmo's won't even pay for that shit!

"You've been a great audience, I'll be here all week. Try the Activia!"