What the Heck is C. Difficile and Why is It Gross?

Suppose we told you there's a dangerous bowel infection spreading fast because it's become resistant to antibiotics, but that (whew) scientists have found one safe, fast, and remarkably effective way to treat it: fecal implants. Yep, we’re talking about stool.

We can hear your reaction now: "Yuck, YOU Docs! Are you kidding? Gross." Sounds gross, but taking stool from a perfectly healthy person and inserting it into an extremely sick one works great. Here's how:

The nasty infection is known as C. difficile. It's tough to wipe out, and next to impossible to beat if it makes a comeback (recurrent C. difficile). The evil invaders throw the natural mix of good and bad bacteria in your bowels so out of whack that the bad guys are left totally running the show. Your body is so sick from diarrhea and other problems that it can't restore the balance.

Enter what's medically called fecal bacteriotherapy, already the top treatment in Scandinavia. Introducing healthy stool, usually from a family donor -- and often via a simple enema -- is like sending in massive reinforcements. Suddenly there are good bacteria all over the place. (Here's a more pleasant source of good gut bacteria.) The effects can be dramatic. In 11 Minnesota studies, two had cure rates of 81% and 94%. The other nine had 100% cures. Normal bowel function was usually restored within 24 hours. What's not to like?

The ick factor. We squeamish North Americans need to get past that. In this case, gross is great.

Learn about a type of bad gut bacteria that could be making you gain weight.