Faecal extract transplants ‘three times more effective than antibiotics in treating intestinal disease’: Hong Kong study
Transplants using faecal extracts are three times more effective than antibiotics in treating a common and fatal intestinal disease, according to Chinese University researchers.
Transplants using faecal bacteria are three times more effective than antibiotics in treating a common and often fatal intestinal disease, according to Chinese University researchers.
The method, known as faecal microbiota transplantation, was shown in a university study to have a cure rate of over 85 per cent when treating patients with Clostridium difficile - the most common enteric infection reported in local hospitals and capable of causing serious dehydration and death.
Conventional antibiotic treatment only cured around 25 per cent of patients with the disease.
Professor Justin Wu Che-yuen, director of the university's Sin Hang Ho Centre for Digestive Health, said: "Microorganisms form a natural shield. But when a patient receives antibiotic treatment, the natural shield disappears and harmful bacteria could damage intestines and health."
In the procedure, 50 to 100 grams of faeces are taken from a healthy donor. The sample is diluted with sterile saline and filtered, then administered to patients either through a nasal tube, a colonoscopy or anal spray.
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Dr Ng Siew-chien, an associate professor in medicine and therapeutics at the university, said transplanting different kinds of bacteria from the intestine could "restore the microbial ecology in the digestive tracts".
In one success story, a 67-year-old patient, identified only by his surname Cheng, last year received faecal bacteria donated by his wife after he suffered diarrhoea seven to eight times a day for a month. It took only one to two days to relieve his symptoms, compared with around seven days for antibiotics to do the same.
The team believes the treatment could offer a better cure for Clostridium difficile infections. Cases increased about threefold at Prince of Wales Hospital from 2009 to 2013, and until now some 25 per cent of patients die within 60 days of contracting it.
"We are confident the new treatment could greatly reduce mortality rates to single digits," said Wu.
The team will conduct research for an additional year to explore how the transplant procedure could help treat other digestive diseases.
