Re: *News* Clostridium Difficile **UPDATE** Bizarre killer bug cure!

Hi

After posting the original post above re: Clostridium Difficile I happened to be reading next day's newspaper and found this:

"Doctors have discovered a cure for killer bug C. Diff - a POO transfusion (yes, you did read that right!). They found sufferers fought off the infection after being given liquidised faeces.

It is pumped into the stomach via a tube through the nose. Medics at a hospital in Scotland conducted "faecal transplants" on 12 patients with the bug, full name Clostridium Difficile. 9 of them were cured. The poo is believed to help replace friendly bacteria in the gut which antibiotics destroy. Doctors admitted there were "obvious aesthetic problems" with the procedure - which they consider to be a last resort.

Donations were taken from a partner or close relative and the treatment takes 2 weeks to work. A Professor of Microbial Infection at a University in Scotland stated "There is something in the faeces that is working and the next step is to isolate that".

A top microbiologist said it posed no added health risks. He added that this could be particularly effective for people who have caught the bug for a second time as antiobiotics may have killed off their good bacteria.

(Hope I never catch this one!!).

70428.