You know when you go to a seminar and it is entitled “Bugs R US” you are probably in for a treat and when you get to one of the initial slides and are informed that in 1g of human poo there are more than 100 trillion bacteria present then you think this really is going to be informative. The seminar that I was lucky enough to attend was by Dr Brett Finlay from UBC. It really was great to attend a talk presented by someone who is so passionate about their subject and able to convey that to the audience. I must admit that during the first five minutes my mind kept throwing out the “Everything comes down to poo” song from Scrubs. If you are interested in hearing him talk about microbes, check out his lecture, “Bugs ‘R Us: The Role of Microbes in Disease, Health and Society” on YouTube. He discusses the microbiota (the human body’s normal flora) and its impact on health ranging from diarrhea to asthma and autism.
My Mum has been saying for years that kids are not exposed to enough dirt nowadays and it seems she is right. While we have been minimising infectious diseases by concentrating on being so clean , the presence of immune diseases is on the rise and we need these microbes to develop normally!
One of the things that I am amazed that I missed in the news was the use of faecal transfer to treat C. difficile infections. Apparently the first use of human faecal transplantation was in 1958. The idea is that a healthy, diverse microbiota can be reintroduced leading to C. difficile being outcompeted. Traditionally these have been done via enema or nasal tube, but a recent study has reported the use of pills for this purpose. I am astonished that I missed this headline:-
Poop pills are latest way to cure dangerous C. diff infections, new study shows
I’ll leave this post with a great quote from Nicola Jones, Nature Blogs:-
“Imagine a world where eat shit isn’t an insult, but a way to save your life”
Life and times of a former lab rat! 