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.
