Dr. Thomas Louie, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Calgary, prepares stool pills in his lab in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on Sept. 26. Donor stool, usually from a relative, is processed in the lab to extract the bacteria and clean it. It is packed into triple-coated gel capsules so they won't dissolve until they reach the intestines of an ill patient.
A "poop pill" may hold the key to healing an intractable infection that kills 14,000 Americans and sickens more than a half-million each year.
A Canadian team is testing the idea on patients with multiple infections of Clostridium difficile that did not respond to antibiotic treatments. The patients swallowed capsules containing fecal microbes from a family member.
Only one of the patients in the ongoing trial has had a recurrence, compared with an 80% rate in patients who have had multiple bouts of the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ...