Medical Titbit: Poo Pills

The human intestine is home to bacteria, both good and bad. In a healthy individual, there is a balance between two kinds of bacteria. When bad bacteria take control over the good bacteria, the disease process starts. Some bad bacteria evolve into their worst form by becoming resistant to all antibiotics. They are then called Superbugs! They may escape from the gut environment to enter other systems such as the urinary tract or bloodstream, causing life-threatening infections.

Health experts are working tirelessly to fight against superbugs. Not many new antibiotics are in the pipeline, so they are working from different angles. One such angle is to support the good bacteria in the human gut by increasing their numbers, which could eventually flush out the bad bacteria. And, it brings us Poo pills!

Pool pills are made of feces from healthy donors (from a stool bank). It is ensured that there are no superbugs and no undigested food materials; only good bacteria remain. The feces are then dried up into powder, put in a pill. The pill is to be swallowed. The pill remains unchanged in the mouth and stomach, and only releases the materials into the intestine.

The pill was already administered to 41 patients at Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals in London as a human trial. According to the authority, the result is really promising. The donated good bacteria in the poo pills were detected in the intestine one month later!! That means they won their fight against bad bacteria and remained on the battlefield strong!

To learn more about Poo pills, read this BBC article

Thanking you
Dr Hafiz