Last week we looked at the way bacteria is involved in every part of our lives. In fact, it could well be that we’re obsessed with all things antibacterial. However, new research shows that tackling bacteria harms the good as well as the bad and can make us fat, ill and asthmatic.

The concept of a blood transfusion is fully understood. The next procedure, referred to as faecal transplanting, is similar. Friendly bacteria has been seen to revolutionise healthcare. One of the ways is through a faecal transplant, which means that friendly, bacteria-laden faeces from a healthy person are fed into the gut of an unhealthy individual.

Apparently, this has proved so successful in recent test cases that is may become more common. The technique has worked brilliantly in most of the patients it has been tested on as a last resort. It has shown to outperform antibiotics when it comes to combating Clostridium difficile, for example.

In future, doctors may routinely sample your gut bacteria to aid diagnosis. In fact, faecal analysis is already available from private laboratories in the UK. To clarify the procedure of faecal transplanting, faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), also known as a stool transplant, is the process of transplantation of faecal bacteria from a healthy individual into a recipient.

A limited number of studies have shown it to be an effective treatment for patients suffering from C. difficile infection (CDI), which produces effects ranging from diarrhoea to pseudomembranous colitis.

Beginning in 2000, hyper virulent strains of C. difficile have emerged, which seem to be linked to antibiotics commonly used in empiric treatments. In the US alone, an estimated three million new, acute C. difficile infections are diagnosed annually. Of these, a subgroup will go on to develop fulminant CDI, which results in approximately 300 deaths per day or almost 110,000 deaths per year.

Due to the epidemic in North America and Europe, FMT has gained prominence, with some experts calling for it to become first-line therapy for CDI.

Previous terms for the procedure include faecal bacteriotherapy, faecal transfusion, faecal transplant, stool transplant, faecal enema and human probiotic infusion (HPI).

Because the procedure involves the complete restoration of the entire faecal microbiota, not just a single agent or combination of agents, these terms have now been replaced by the new term – faecal microbiota transplantation.

FMT involves restoration of the colonic flora by introducing healthy bacterial flora through infusion of stool, such as by enema, obtained from a healthy human donor.

Infusion of faeces from healthy donors, demonstrated in a randomised, controlled trial, has shown to be highly effective in treating recurrent C. difficile and more effective than vancomycin alone.

It may also be used to treat other conditions like colitis, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome and neurological symptoms. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration regulates human faeces as an experimental drug.

Bacterial battle tactics may also help win the crucial fight against infections, resistant to all current antibiotics. New research is already building on the recent discoveries in the laboratories at Imperial College, London. This shows that some bacteria kill rivals by firing toxins into them to degrade their DNA, while others resist antibiotics by ‘lying low’, so that the antibiotics, which work by sensing their targets’ activity, cannot detect them.

David Holden leads the researchers, who are exploring how these tactics might usefully be hijacked, blocked or even mimicked. At the same time, globally, bacteria are working away on our behalf in a lot of different ways you cannot even imagine, such as consuming oil spills, turning food waste into biogas, converting revolting public toilet smells into tolerable scents, reducing plumbing bills by devouring drain-gunk and ‘bad bacteria killing sprays’ that are used to coat whole buildings.

Bill Keevil and his team at the University of Southampton in the UK have discovered that lethal MRSA bacteria, the scourge of hospitals, can survive for weeks on stainless steel commonly used in hospitals, but are dead within eight minutes on copper surfaces.

In the meantime, there are some interesting ways to let friendly bacteria flourish:

• Nurture your friendly bacteria by eating natural foods where they flourish, such as vegetables, nuts, avocados and fermented items such as live yoghurt, miso and sauerkraut;

• Take probiotic supplements to help repopulate your gut;

• Avoid the foods unfriendly bacteria thrive on, such as sugar, meat and processed items. Avoid antibiotics unless they are crucial to your health;

• Eat organic – non-organic meat, poultry and salmon are often dosed with antibiotics to aid growth and curb infection. Try friendly bacterial products for cleaning.

kathryn@maltanet.net

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