Exploring the Benefits of Fecal Microbial Transplants

Recent evidence indicates that Clostridium difficileinfection, the leading cause of infectious diarrhea, impacts almost half a million people and was associated with approximately 29,000 deaths in 2011 (Lessa et al. 2015). The cumulative financial burden related to C. difficile is estimated at about $2 billion (McGlone et al. 2012).

The concept of fecal microbial transplant (FMT), defined as infusion of a fecal suspension from a healthy individual into the gastrointestinal tract of another person…