DIY Poo Transplants Could Cure Clostridium Difficile Infection

Poo Transplants May Sound Gross, But It Cures This

For most of us, catching the sight of our partner's unflushed poo in the toilet is pretty horrific - but some people are choosing to liquidise a loved one's excrement and insert it into their own body.

You heard right ladies and gents, DIY poo transplants are a thing.

C. diff occurs when antibiotics remove some of a person's "friendly" bacteria, allowing the illness to take over and seriously impact a person's health.

About 50% of a person's faeces is bacteria, therefore a faecal transplant is thought to bring more vital bacteria to the system.

There is growing recognition that faecal transplant is the best way to treat patients suffering from the condition.

Published in the New England Journal of Medicine last year, a trial of the technique showed 94% of patients were cured by the treatment, whereas a course of antibiotics cured just 27%.

"He mixed it in a blender with saline, and then he gave it to me in an enema.

"My husband kissed me after I lay down and told me not to worry, that everything was going to be OK, and that it was going to work," she said.

Duff laid on her back with her legs in the air as she tried to hold in her husband's poop. She lasted four hours before needing to go to the toilet.

Other doctors have hailed the benefits of faecal transplants, with the Mayo clinic reporting success in 2011.

The Mayo Clinic in Arizona FMT team first performed a colonoscopic fecal transplant in 2011 for a patient with severe refractory C. difficile pseudomembranous colitis, using donated stool from the patient's brother.

Robert Orenstein, D.O., of Mayo Clinic in Arizona said: "Unbelievably, the patient left the hospital 24 hours after the procedure, after having been bedridden for weeks. That opened my eyes to the possibilities for helping others."

The treatment is becoming so popular that a website and Facebook group The Power of Poop has been set up, full of tips and personal stories to help people with their first at-home faecal transplant.

Close