Better Than Antibiotics, it’s a Fecal Transplant!

A fecal transplant is exactly what it sounds like. Feces from one person (the donor) being put into another's colon (the donee). There's a big "ewwwwwwe" factor here but there are also some important health benefits....believe it or not!

Doctors have found when someone has a gastrointestinal infection that keeps coming back, recurring antibiotic treatment kills off some of the naturally occuring and necessary bacteria. A fecal transplant restores the bacteria in the patients gut which helps fight off worse problems like Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infection, which can be very serious.

In 2010, George Russell, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, did his first fecal transplant on a 2-year-old child with a relapsing C. diff infection. As in this case, this procedure can be a literal lifesaver, albeit kind of gross.

Together now: Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwe

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