A Canadian specialist has developed a new method of treating antibiotic-resistant colon infections. He suggests swallowing a capsule containing stool extract, writes Reuters. 27 volunteers have already been treated in this way.
A treatment-resistant infection is caused by the bacteria Clostridium difficle. They are gram positive anaerobic and spore microbes and are one of the most common causes of pseudomembranous enteritis.
This infection often occurs after the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics. They help to cure a patient from a bacterial infection, e.g. diverticulitis (small protrusions in the wall of the large intestine), but they destroy the beneficial, natural bacterial flora that live in the digestive tract. This is when dangerous C. difficle bacilli, resistant to many antibiotics used, can multiply.
There are several medicines to choose from to treat this type of infection, such as metronidazole, vancomycin or teicoplanin, and rifampicin, bacitracin, and fusidic acid. However, some people experience relapses and then there is nothing to treat them. They are at risk of wasting the body due to frequent diarrhea.
So far, the only alternative method has been a stool enema. It helps to heal those patients who are not being successful by any other traditional treatment. In many patients, it restores the proper bacterial flora. A stool sample only needs to be taken from another, healthy person.
A slightly different, more modern therapy is proposed by Dr. Thomas Louie, specialist in infected diseases at the University of Calgary (Canada). It consists in making capsules for a given patient containing beneficial bacteria taken from the stool of a healthy person (preferably related to the patient).
However, the patient is first treated with antibiotics that destroy C. difficle. Only then does he receive about 30 capsules with new microbes, which are to restore their normal bacterial flora.
Dr. Louie ensures that the capsules are odorless and do not break down in the stomach. The bacteria they contain are released only in the large intestine. (PAP)