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posted by takyon on Tuesday June 18 2019, @12:15AM   Printer-friendly
from the sanitation dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow4463

One patient has died and another became seriously ill after fecal transplants inadvertently seeded their innards with a multi-drug resistant bacterial infection, the Food and Drug Administration warned Thursday.

The cases highlight the grave risks of what some consider a relatively safe procedure. They also call attention to the mucky issues of federal oversight for the experimental transplants, which the FDA has struggled to regulate. In its warning Thursday, the agency announced new protections for trials and experimental uses of the procedure.

The FDA shared minimal details from the deadly transplants. Its warning only noted that the cases involved two patients who were immunocompromised prior to the experimental transplants and received stool from the same donor. Subsequent to the transplant, the patients developed invasive infections from an E. coli strain that was resistant to a wide variety of antibiotics in the penicillin and cephalosporin groups. The E. coli strain carried a drug-defeating enzyme called an extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) [open, DOI: 10.1155/2012/625170] [DX], which generally cleaves a ring common to all the chemical structures of those antibiotics. When unnamed researchers who administered the transplant looked back at the donor stool, they found that the stool contained an identical ESBL-producing E. coli.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/06/killer-poop-fecal-transplant-patients-death-prompts-fda-to-push-out-warning/


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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by CheesyMoo on Tuesday June 18 2019, @12:24AM (4 children)

    by CheesyMoo (6853) on Tuesday June 18 2019, @12:24AM (#856844)

    "Oh, shit"

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @01:44AM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @01:44AM (#856867)

      Was this anal-oral, anal-anal, oral-oral, oral-anal, or surgical transplantation?

      • (Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Tuesday June 18 2019, @04:14AM (2 children)

        by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 18 2019, @04:14AM (#856893) Journal

        The usual method of doing a fecal transplant is, and I wish I was kidding, a shit smoothie. I've read of them being delivered via feeding tube, but I don't know if that's universally the case.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @04:19AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @04:19AM (#856894)

          Two girls, one cup?

        • (Score: 2) by EvilJim on Tuesday June 18 2019, @08:17PM

          by EvilJim (2501) on Tuesday June 18 2019, @08:17PM (#857162) Journal

          I was under the impression it was put in a capsule and inserted anally, some people just cut out the middle man and 'poop docking' was born https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Poop%20Docking [urbandictionary.com]

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @12:26AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @12:26AM (#856846)

    Guaranteed free of cooties.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @12:45AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @12:45AM (#856851)

      Taste the rainbow.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by stretch611 on Tuesday June 18 2019, @01:20AM

      by stretch611 (6199) on Tuesday June 18 2019, @01:20AM (#856858)

      The problem is when the unicorn's horn is used to facilitate the transfer.

      --
      Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
    • (Score: 2) by stretch611 on Tuesday June 18 2019, @01:26AM

      by stretch611 (6199) on Tuesday June 18 2019, @01:26AM (#856860)

      Unicorn Poop [youtube.com]

      --
      Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by MostCynical on Tuesday June 18 2019, @12:46AM

    by MostCynical (2589) on Tuesday June 18 2019, @12:46AM (#856852) Journal

    so, the problem is the quality of the screening, and the "completeness" of the tests performed.

    Check for HIV, TB, bad versions of E Coli, etc etc..

    Then hope your pathologist doesn't cut corners.

    Now the "regulated" services and trials will be updating their process checklists.

    --
    "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday June 18 2019, @01:18AM (15 children)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday June 18 2019, @01:18AM (#856857) Journal

    I am actually kind of bummed out about this. All the studies that reported how changing your intestinal micro-biota fixed obesity, diabetes, and other ailments have been sounding so promising.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 1) by optotronic on Tuesday June 18 2019, @01:36AM (1 child)

      by optotronic (4285) on Tuesday June 18 2019, @01:36AM (#856865)

      Yes, there's a lot of potential in stool transplants. Does anyone know how feasible it is to test for a high percentage of bad bacteria (and viruses/parasites/etc) in a practical manner? Do we have to wait until we have computerized identification?

      • (Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Tuesday June 18 2019, @09:59PM

        by Osamabobama (5842) on Tuesday June 18 2019, @09:59PM (#857197)

        It shouldn't be too long. I mean, Theranos had an advanced blood testing concept in a small, affordable package. So now that that company has gone to shit, we should expect fecal testing kits any time now.

        --
        Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday June 18 2019, @03:27AM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 18 2019, @03:27AM (#856883) Journal

      I am actually kind of bummed out about this.

      Still, way much better than being butted.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by ElizabethGreene on Tuesday June 18 2019, @04:20AM (9 children)

      by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 18 2019, @04:20AM (#856895) Journal

      I understand that for people with recurrent C-diff it's a life changer.

      As a treatment for obesity... Hell yes I'd try this, if it had a 50% or better success rate after 24 months.. Today I'm honestly considering having someone cut me open and surgically reroute part of my intestine to a different part of my stomach. To say I'm open minded is an understatement.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @11:34AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @11:34AM (#856935)

        For obesity: try gastric surgery (band/gastrectomy). I have seen this work miracles.

      • (Score: 2) by epitaxial on Tuesday June 18 2019, @12:28PM (3 children)

        by epitaxial (3165) on Tuesday June 18 2019, @12:28PM (#856945)

        There is no mystery to losing weight. You burn more calories than you take in. Stop eating garbage and exercise and you will lose weight. There I saved you from surgery.

        • (Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Tuesday June 18 2019, @02:51PM (2 children)

          by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 18 2019, @02:51PM (#857002) Journal

          Thank you so much for your relevant and salient advice. There is no chance whatsoever that I might have tried that before considering committing a double digit percentage of my annual income to a painful major abdominal surgery and a lifetime of medical complications.</sarcasm>

          • (Score: 2) by epitaxial on Tuesday June 18 2019, @05:03PM (1 child)

            by epitaxial (3165) on Tuesday June 18 2019, @05:03PM (#857067)

            You must be some sort of medical anomaly if diet and exercise do not cause weight loss.

            • (Score: 3, Informative) by ElizabethGreene on Tuesday June 18 2019, @05:42PM

              by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 18 2019, @05:42PM (#857087) Journal

              I have a hypothesis on that. Some cars get 50 miles per gallon, and some cars get 15. I'm the former. I can maintain my body weight on a 1500 calorie per day diet while clicking in 10K steps a day. I have to get down to around 1200 to move the needle. When I reduce my intake that low I'm freezing (cold) all the time and so lethargic it's unsustainable.

              Anecdote: In high school I had jaw surgery and my jaw was wired closed for months. Straight liquid diet, marching band practice twice a week plus games on Friday, and I lost less than 5 pounds. No, I wasn't tossing back milkshakes all day long.

              Infuriating.

      • (Score: 2) by OrugTor on Tuesday June 18 2019, @01:12PM

        by OrugTor (5147) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 18 2019, @01:12PM (#856960)

        Please don't. You will lose weight, put most of it back on and spend the rest of your life warding off deficiency diseases.
        Gastric surgery is bad medicine. Treating an eating disorder with GI mutilation makes as much sense as castrating a sex addict.

      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @01:13PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @01:13PM (#856961)

        Having had two relatives that had lap band surgery and seeing how it devastated the life of one and surgical complications in the other, I would put surgery at the bottom of the list of things to try to reverse obesity.Aside from radical changes in diet such as a 5-2 system where you fast for two days, eat well for 5, there is gastric balloon therapy which requires no surgery and is easily reversible, unlike surgical options. A balloon is orally inserted into your stomach and filled with saline solution to reduce the volume of food which can be eaten.

      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @02:36PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @02:36PM (#856997)

        Don't stuff so much food into yourself instead?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @09:59PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @09:59PM (#857198)

          Doesn't work for Americans.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Mykl on Tuesday June 18 2019, @04:23AM

      by Mykl (1112) on Tuesday June 18 2019, @04:23AM (#856896)

      There's no reason that we can't continue to use transplants - we just need to exercise more care.

      I see parallels between this and the early days of HIV/AIDS when a few blood transfusion recipients were infected from donors. These days all donors are checked thoroughly before giving blood to someone, so it's not such an issue.

    • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday June 18 2019, @09:52PM

      by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Tuesday June 18 2019, @09:52PM (#857193) Journal

      One failure does not a condemnation of the procedure make. Although right now the extolled virtues are nowhere near scientifically proven. Recurrent Clostridium difficile (C-DIFF) infection is the only approved indication for it.

      --
      This sig for rent.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @03:17AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @03:17AM (#856880)

    This story is full of shit!

    • (Score: 2) by kazzie on Tuesday June 18 2019, @06:31AM

      by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 18 2019, @06:31AM (#856902)

      And the source is from Ars...

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @06:50AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @06:50AM (#856904)

    eat shit and die

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by fennec on Tuesday June 18 2019, @07:46AM (1 child)

    by fennec (7053) on Tuesday June 18 2019, @07:46AM (#856909)

    Immunocompromised is the important word in TFA, they could get E-Coli from food or a hand shake with the wrong person. Healthy (not immunocompromised) person should have survived the transplant with some extra time spent on the toilets. So it just mean some extra screening must be done with immunocompromised patients.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by OrugTor on Tuesday June 18 2019, @01:19PM

      by OrugTor (5147) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 18 2019, @01:19PM (#856964)

      Good point, but note that diarrhea could flush out the transplant before it could do its job. Thorough screening is still necessary for all patients.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @08:33AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @08:33AM (#856918)

    Dies.

    News at 11.

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @12:34PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @12:34PM (#856947)

    Note to faggots: Poop hole is only for drainage and exhaust gases.

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