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posted by janrinok on Monday December 05 2022, @03:01AM   Printer-friendly
from the poop dept.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/12/prescription-poop-is-here-fda-approves-fecal-slurry-for-unshakeable-diarrhea/

For the first time, the US Food and Drug Administration has granted approval for a feces-based microbial treatment, which is used to prevent a recurring diarrheal infection that can become life-threatening.

The approval, announced Wednesday, is years in the making. Researchers have strained to harness the protective qualities of the complex, diverse, yet variable microbial communities found in healthy people's intestines and stool. Early on, rich fecal matter proved useful for restoring balance and blocking infection in those whose microbiomes have been disturbed—a state called dysbiosis, which can occur from disease and/or use of antibiotic drugs. But, our understanding of what makes a microbiome healthy, functional, and protective remains incomplete.

Doctors, meanwhile, pushed ahead, informally trying an array of methods to transplant fecal microbiota from healthy donors to the guts of patients—via enemas, tubes through the nose, and oral poop-packed capsules. Fecal microbiota transplants (FMTs) have been used to treat various ailments, from obesity to irritable bowel syndrome, to mixed success. But it quickly became apparent that FMTs were most readily effective at preventing recurrent infection from Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile or just C. diff).


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  • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 05 2022, @03:35AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 05 2022, @03:35AM (#1281214)

    I use Seirogan [wikipedia.org] from time to time. My son brings it to me from Japan. The FDA advises against its use [fda.gov.ph], but I've not had any trouble with it.

    It has a very strong odor and must be stored sealed in a mason jar.

    Not sure I've ever had an "unshakeable" case, but its done the trick for whatever I've had.

    Do your own research.

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  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 05 2022, @06:01AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 05 2022, @06:01AM (#1281222)
    But why'd you care what the Philippine's FDA says? Are they really that reputable for such stuff?
    • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 05 2022, @06:48AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 05 2022, @06:48AM (#1281229)

      Good catch. I missed that. My intent was to warn folks that, while this is a common medication employed in Japan, it may or may not be available or legal to acquire in other countries. I looked for an online warning and found that one. Let me repeat - do your own research. I stumbled over this medication almost completely by accident and it works for me. I cannot nor am I qualified to prescribe it to others, but I am free to report treatments I have followed. As far as anyone reading here knows, this stuff may be as worthless as horse-paste. It might, however, be preferable to the treatment described in TFA in some situations.

      Beyond this, I had wanted to note that severe diarrhea can be a side-effect of using strong antibiotics which kill not only infectious bacteria but also intestinal flora and fauna. Such diarrhea might become a unshakeable problem in a hospital situation and in such a case the treatment of restoring said flora and fauna might make perfect sense, so it is good to see that a workable and FDA approved solution is being pursued.

      I have no reason to believe that the FDA of the Philippines is any more incompetent than ours in USA. Don't get me started about mercurochrome.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2022, @09:23AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2022, @09:23AM (#1281374)

    If you don't want accurate, objective and informative comments about existing treatments for diarrhea, which are neither off-topic nor flamebait, then don't run articles about diarrhea treatments. It's really quite easy.