Donation and transplantation of human waste in medicine - jokes but 100% true chemistry

Transplanting the "delicate waste" of people - it sounds a bit odd, but this therapy is happening and saving lives.

We have heard about donating bone marrow, sperm, blood, even breast milk. And do you believe that the "delicate waste" of people is no exception and they are used to treat medicine.

The full name of this therapy is Microorganisms in "delicate waste" (English name: Fecal microbiota transplantation, abbreviated: FMT).

Why is this "delicate waste" implant?

The "delicate waste" implant is considered to be the most effective measure to treat C.jiff infection - a bacterium that causes pseudomembranous colitis.

A patient received a stool transplant to the colon.

Normally, C.jiff develops when the patient takes antibiotics (for a different disease) and then becomes infected, with manifestations of continuous diarrhea. Most people with C.jiff are hospitalized and spend a lot of money on treatment.

In 2015, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that within one year, 500,000 Americans were diagnosed with C.jiff and up to 29,000 people died after 30 days of illness. 80% of them are patients 65 years and older.

For those who want to donate, they must be in good health and between the ages of 18 and 50.

"Most patients cannot resist C.jiff by taking antibiotics. At that time, the" delicate waste "implant will be the last one. Fortunately, it is 90% effective in schools. " Ms. Carolyn Edelstein from OpenBiome implanted " delicate waste " implant bank said.

When patients suffer from C.jiff, their intestinal tract lacks "good bacteria" . Therefore, the purpose of a "delicate waste" implant is to bring intestinal bacteria from a healthy donor into the intestinal tract of the patient.

Delicate waste transplant procedure.

Currently, the main way to transplant is to bring the patient's saline solution and waste to the colon, through the nose / mouth or endoscopy.

In the future, "poop pill" may be applied, by extracting the bacteria in the waste, taking it to the laboratory and synthesizing it as a capsule.

Strict "delicate waste" donation process

The time when medicine started "delicate waste" was around 2012. At that time, this method was very expensive because it took a lot of time to collect waste, sort, check .

Things just got easier when centers like OpenBiome (based in Boston, USA) were born. They are responsible for providing "delicate waste" ready for transplantation when needed.

For those who want to donate, they must be in good health and between the ages of 18 and 50. The first step is to fill in the online registration form.

After that, they were invited by centers such as OpenBiome to have a thorough health check, including blood tests and "delicate waste". Only 3% of registrants are considered qualified, can donate only.

Because of such a small percentage, each qualified person must commit to donating "delicate waste" continuously for 60 days. And every day, this blood and waste must be checked again. In addition, if they become ill and have to take antibiotics during this time, they are immediately excluded from the donation cycle.

Each qualified person must commit to donating "delicate waste" continuously for 60 days.

Donors receive $ 40 (about 930 thousand dong) for each of their daily products. Each product must weigh at least 55 grams, as this is also the amount needed for a transplant. This "delicate waste" continues to be tested.

Thus, at the end of the donation cycle, after 2 months, each donor will receive about USD 2,400 (equivalent to VND 55.8 million). Although this amount is quite high, a study shows that the purpose of donors is mostly to help patients!

Currently, medicine also studies "delicate waste" transplants to treat other diseases such as Crohn's (a chronic inflammatory disease of the intestine) or irritable bowel syndrome. Therefore, the demand for "delicate waste" implants will increase in the future.

On the other hand, for all of us, eating healthy, not using antibiotics indiscriminately, is necessary to help protect the healthy intestinal tract.