Why Hong Kong researchers are studying poo’s potential to save lives
Transplanting faeces to recolonise a patient’s gut with healthy bacteria has recently kindled the interest of scientists for its potential to treat infections and chronic conditions; Chinese doctors were doing it 1,700 years ago
It may sound far-fetched, but one day human faeces might be the cure for illnesses ranging from life-threatening gut infections to chronic conditions such as obesity and diabetes.
Transplanting faecal matter from one person to another to recolonise the gut with healthy bacteria – known as faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) – has garnered a lot of interest from scientists around the world in recent years, according to a report published in the journal PLOS Biology on July 12.
“There is no doubt that poo can save lives,” says the report’s corresponding author Seth Bordenstein, an associate professor of biological sciences and pathology, microbiology, and immunology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, in the US state of Tennessee.
Faecal transplants have a long history in Chinese medicine. An early application in humans was recorded in the fourth century by a Chinese doctor named Ge Hong, who noted prompt recovery from diarrhoea in many patients following faecal transfer. In the 16th century, the therapy was popular enough to get the nickname “yellow soup”.
During the second world war, German soldiers from the Afrika Corps consumed camel droppings to help them recover from bacillary dysentery when no antibiotics were available.