Would YOU let a poo bank save YOUR bowels from C.diff?

Two students from the University of Aberdeen have come up with the idea

TWO MEDICAL students believe the creation of a poo bank could save thousands of people in the UK from Clostridium difficile.

 

The infection - known as C.diff - can cause bloating, diarrhoea and abdominal pain and affects about 15,000 people in the UK every year.

It is said to be difficult to treat with antibiotics - but a procedure called faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) could be coming to the rescue. 

 

FMT involves implanting healthy donor faecal matter into the infected bowel of a patient and trials have found it can cure 81 per cent of patients.

But, the procedure is expensive and inaccessible to many doctors. 

The news comes after it was revealed we've all been pooing wrong: New rules on how to squat over the loo for a happy gut. 

 

A pair of University of Aberdeen fourth-year medical students have formed a social enterprise - EuroBiotix CIC - which they hope will make the procedure more available through the NHS.

Using a blood bank model, James McIlroy and Matthew Bracchi aim to provide screened ready-to-use faecal transplants to doctors.

James said: "We appreciate it's not the most pleasant of topics but C.diff is a serious problem for sufferers and the NHS, and we believe our idea is a serious potential solution, with recent trials showing FMT to be a very effective treatment method.

"It's hard to get this treatment on the NHS because of the costs and logistical factors associated with screening a unique donor for every FMT.

 

Using a blood bank model they aim to provide screened ready-to-use faecal transplants to doctors

"Effectively, we want to create a blood bank model, but with donated healthy faecal microbiota instead of blood."

The students say their method will cut the time and effort required to find a donor, avoid potential contamination issues and improve the safety and quality of material through standardised safety protocols.

Student James came up with the idea while working on his dissertation last year.

"I read about a major outbreak of C.diff and discovered these faecal transplants, and decided I had to get something going," he said.