Faecal Transplants

“It’s got the ick factor, but this thing saves lives,” says Prof Thomas Borody from The Centre of Digestive Diseases in Sydney. He is talking about Faecal Microbiota Transplantations – in other words, poo transplants.”

Borody has performed thousands of these procedures, where the healthy faecal matter of a screened donor is inserted into the bowel of a long-suffering patient.

The idea is that the healthy bacteria from the donor’s stool take up residence in the recipient’s gut, and crowd out harmful bacteria that were making the person sick.

The procedure has shown over 80 percent success in curing the hospital superbug Clostridium difficile where antibiotics have failed.

The transplants are less effective for other illnesses, and further research is needed as there is still some concern about their safety, but for some patients it is their only hope.

Tamara Sheward meets student Jess as she undergoes the procedure, to find out whether a healthy dose of someone else’s bacteria could be just what the doctor ordered.s