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A new study has found that capsules having frozen faecal material could help in clearing up infections related to Clostridium difficile bugs.
Attempting to find possible treatment for serious diarrhoea caused due to C. difficile infection, the researchers involved twenty people for the study and gave them the therapy using material from some volunteers.
The participants were given 15 pills on two successive days of specifically prepared fecal matter collected from healthy donors.
The clinical trial resulted in a success rate of 90 percent, with the participants showing no sign of relapse during the two-month study period.
Fourteen participants saw immediate recovery, while four others required a second cycle of the treatment one week later.
“The small investigation provides preliminary data supporting the safety and efficacy of this approach. More experience and larger studies are needed to determine the long-term safety and efficacy,” said study investigator Prof Elizabeth Hohmann from Harvard Medical School.
“The use of capsules simplifies the procedure immensely, potentially making it accessible to a greater population,” Dr Ilan Youngster from Boston Children’s Hospital, who also co-authored the study, said
C. difficile bacteria can live without any harm in the human gut along with hundreds of other species that competes with each other for space and food.
Experts say while some antibiotics can kill off the competitors of C. difficile, allowing the multiplication of bacteria and the production of masses of toxins from them. This process can lead to serious diarrhoea that may be fatal.
However, some strong antibiotics help few people to get rid of the infection but several others end up developing chronic infections.
