They are the world’s most unlikely heroes – “super donors” are people whose stool donations have a much higher success rate in poo transplants and they could be key to treating a host of diseases related to the gut, according to a new study.
Poo transplants or faecal microbiota transplants (FMTs) – where a sample of faeces from a healthy person is transplanted into the intestines of someone with a disease or infection – have become a routine treatment for nasty diarrhoea infections where they have a cure rate of over 90 per cent.
But using it to treat other conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease and Type 2 diabetes have so far hit a bum note – the success rate is just 20 per cent.
Now a team of researchers from the University of Auckland have ‘re-examined the evidence’ – and say there are “super donors” out there who can double these success rates.
Poop the new panacea?
So, what makes someone a ‘super pooper’? Digging deeper into stool samples (no thanks), the scientists found these donors tended to have both more bacterial diversity and a few “keystone” species that seem to be good for your gut.
Of course, the researchers say there’s no “one stool fits all” approach – but better matching between donors and recipients could increase transplant success rates and even be used to treat gut-related conditions such as Alzheimer’s Disease, multiple sclerosis, cancers, asthma, allergies and heart disease.
And could you put your poop to good use? Melbourne gastroenterologist Chris Leung told the ABC it’s not that simple.
“Donors must be between 18 and 55 years old, be in good health, have no gastrointestinal illness, not travelled outside Australia or taken antibiotics in the past six months and must have nice firm stools,” he said.
If they pass that checklist, their blood and faeces are then screened for infections and viruses. In the US, the OpenBiome stool bank takes just three per cent of applicants.
“It’s not like you can just do a poo and get paid for it,” gut microbiologist Hanna Wardill added.
Crap – we were about to predict a new wave of turd tycoons.
