The Promise of Poop

Our gut feelings tell us that poop is gross full of germs and bacteria that we wouldn’t want to go near, much less put someone else in our bodies. But in the medical world, one’s feces may be another input to survival. The method is very trouble-free enough: First the doctors flush all the contents from the colon of a patient infected with intestinal pathogens like Clostridium difficile. Then, via a thin plastic tube, stool from a donor fills the now empty intestine with healthy gut microbial flora. As unorthodox as it sounds, experts have reported positive effects of fecal transplant in more than fifteen diseases, from irritable bowel syndrome to non-gastrointestinal diseases akin to multiple sclerosis and even depression. Therefore, evidence remains feeble, and more scientific studies are required before the method can become mainstream.