Can you believe that your poop can actually be put to good use? Well, doctors have found a way to put healthy people's poop into pills that can cure serious gut infections, which is a less gross way to do "fecal transplants." So, basically, they are using shit to help shitting problems. I love it!
Canadian researchers tried this on 27 patients and cured them all after strong antibiotics failed to help them. Think that's a load of shit? Literally!
It might sound gross, but it's a serious problem. Around half a million Americans get Clostridium difficile, also known as C-diff, infections each year and about 14,000 die. The germ causes nausea, cramping and really bad diarrhea. The pain is so bad that it is often disabling. A very potent and pricey antibiotic can kill C-diff, but it also destroys good bacteria that live in the gut, leaving it more susceptible to future infections.
Recent studies have shown that giving infected people stool from a healthy donor can restore balance. I am absolutely blown away that "shit" can actually save your life! Here, we thought that it was just something we flushed down a toilet all of these years. I have to be honest, though, I really feel bad for the pharmacist who had to shove fecal matter into a pill. I'm sure it really smells. Come on! Did you really expect me not to write about this story?
