The year ahead: ten amazing science and technology
innovations coming up in 2014
From the world's largest underground hotel to Star Wars-style holographic communication, the coming year is set to unveil an array of incredible advances in science and technology
Fecal bacteriotherapy
Not every emerging scientific advance is complex, or sophisticated. Or, for that matter, something you'd discuss at the dinner table. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) – the process of transferring fecal bacteria from a healthy individual into a sick recipient - has been around since 1957. But it’s only in the last decade that FMT has been seen as simple, safe, low cost, low risk, accessible, and, apparently, a permanent treatment alternative to increasingly high-strength antibiotics.
To explain: when a patient is given broad-spectrum antibiotics, the effect is to carpet-bomb all the healthy bacteria that live in our guts, leaving the patient open to infection by other bacteria - such as the potentially fatal Clostridium difficile. Since 2000, hypervirulent strains of C. difficile have developed, and now kill over 2,000 people a year in the UK alone. But FMT is the shock troops: a quick, easy way of restoring healthy bacteria into your guts to fight the infection. And fight they do: an incredible 89% of patients are instantly, and permanently, cured.
And new research suggests FMT might also offer cures for not just IBS, colitis, constipation and colonic ulcers – but also a growing number of neurological and auto-immune conditions such as Parkinson's. In October it was announced FMT was now available in pill form, making it slightly more appealing.
Written by
marmaduke123
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Apologies to you John and everyone who may have been looking for this article.....it was from the telegraph underneath heading 'The year ahead ten amazing science and technology innovations coming up in 2014.' Not the Sunday times ...
I read about this treatment recently but it did not include any other possibilities but for the treatment of severe Diarrhoea in Patients. Apparently given in capsule form and made from faecal matter from a healthy relation.
I do think the Media hype up much in the way of new treatments.
Pat v and coblrman....I had not heard or read anything about this before. My brother was kind enough to send it to me he thought I might find it interesting..which I did. Apologies if you didn't I just thought I'd share it...
I've been hearing a lot about yeast infections in the gut taking over the normal bowel flora (bacteria). Supposedly one needs to take probiotics after taking antibiotics or times of stress. There was even a program in local PBS station (in US) about this (in among the don't eat dairy and the beware of gluten). I tend to be skeptical, but still, good to monitor such things. It seems to become almost a system of belief people take on.
Published online 2013 July 14. doi: 10.1007/s11894-013-0337-1
PMCID: PMC3742951
Fecal Microbiota Transplantation: Indications, Methods, Evidence, and Future Directions
Regarding other potential treatable conditions, evidence for FMT at present is lacking. Isolated case reports of FMT response include multiple sclerosis [50], Parkinson’s disease [51], chronic fatigue syndrome [52], and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura [53].
(Ref. 51. Anathaswamy A. Fecal transplant eases symptoms of Parkinson’s. New Scientist Issue. 2011;2796:19.)
From what I've read so far there doesn't seem to be much research specifically on FMT and Parkinsons. One article mentioned it helped one PD patient.
Thanks Joanne-Joyce for the article. It's a strange concept but at least it's evidence that they are following every path to find a cure no matter how extreme .
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