---
title: "Fecal Transplants See Success in 90 Percent of Bacterial Gut Infections"
description: "New guidelines recommend increasing utilization of fecal transplants for the treatment of C. diff infections, which destroy the gut microbiome."
date: "2018-02-16"
modified: "2018-02-16"
authors:
  - name: "Patrick Caughill"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/patrickcaughill.md"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/fecal-transplants-bacterial-infections"
categories:
  - "Bacteria"
  - "Health & Medicine"
  - "Medical"
  - "Pathogens"
tags:
  - "antibiotics"
  - "bacterial infection"
  - "microbiome"
---

# Fecal Transplants See Success in 90 Percent of Bacterial Gut Infections

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/cdiff.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/2014/04/we-need-talk-about-poo-and-how-it-could-save-your-life" target="\_blank"\>Wellcome Images\</a\>\</em\>*

## Microbiome Renovation

Transplants are a vital part of healthcare, [giving tens of thousands of people](<https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/news/us-organ-transplants-and-deceased-donors-set-new-records-in-2016/>) in the United States a new lease on life. While organ transplants are relatively commonplace, a new form of transplantation is emerging to fight a life-threatening infection — one that impacts nearly half a million Americans, and is annually responsible an estimated 15,000 to 30,000 U.S. deaths.

However, these doctors aren't transplanting an organ; they're taking the fecal matter of ultra-healthy people and transplanting it into patients battling a *Clostridium difficile* (*C. diff*) infection, which causes severe diarrhea in sufferers.

![Yellowish clusters of Clostridium difficile, the bacterial gut infection that fecal transplants have proven robust at treating.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ClostridiumDifficile.jpg>)
**Clostridium difficile.* Image source: Wikimedia Commons/CDC*

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has[ issued new guidelines](<https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/cix1085/4855916>) that promote the use of fecal transplants to treat this infection. Poop transfers, if you will, may sound like a surreal way of treating any kind of illness, let alone a bacterial infection. Yet *C. diff* infections are most often the [result of antibiotic use](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/study-asserts-a-full-course-of-antibiotics-might-not-be-necessary-and-could-be-harmful.md>), which decimates the natural defenses of a healthy gut microbiome.

Fecal transplants are meant to take the [microbiomes of healthy donors](<https://futurism.com/scientists-harness-power-gut-bacteria-promote-health.md>) and allow them to flourish in the recipients, killing any *C. diff* infection along the way.

In the new guidelines, the ISDA notes a success rate nearing 90 percent of transplants, though long-term data on the effectiveness of the treatment is not yet available. A new registry is being developed by the American Gastroenterological Association, with support from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to track 4,000 patients for ten years in hopes of gathering this kind of data. Thus far, weight gain has been reported in some transplant patients. [*STAT* reports that](<https://www.statnews.com/2018/02/15/fecal-transplants-c-diff-idsa/>) some are concerned depression, allergies, diabetes and asthma — all believed to be associated with the gut microbiome — could also be transferred.

Prior to the advent of fecal transplants, patients had to undergo surgery to remove infected colons if other options were exhausted. The new guidelines will empower healthcare providers to utilize fecal transplant treatments in more cases, especially in patients who have been [resistant to traditional antibiotic](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/superbug-resistant-to-all-available-u-s-antibiotics-claims-victim.md>) treatments.

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-caughill-74178a61>)

## More

- [FDA Halts Fecal Transplant Trials After Patient Dies](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/fda-halts-fecal-transplant-patient-dies.md>)
- [New Study Supports the Link Between Autism and Gut Microbes](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/new-study-supports-the-link-between-autism-and-gut-microbes.md>)
- [Fecal Transplants Reduce Symptoms of Autism Long Term](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/fecal-transplants-reduce-symptoms-autism-long-term.md>)
- [Lab-Grown Synthetic Nanobots May Officially End Antibiotic Resistance](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/lab-grown-synthetic-nanobots-officially-end-antibiotic-resistance.md>)
- [An Ancient Antibacterial Technique Might Hold the Key to Future Wound Treatment](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/oregon-blue-clay-antibacterial.md>)
- [Scientists: Unfortunately, Bacteria Scream When They Die](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/scientists-bacteria-scream.md>)
- [Wandering Gut Bacteria Could Be Behind Conditions Like Lupus](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/wandering-gut-bacteria-lupus.md>)
- [Pet Store Puppies Are Spreading Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/antibiotic-resistant-bacteria-puppies.md>)