One person died and another developed a serious infection from a drug-resistant E. Coli strain following a poop transplant, the Food and Drug Administration reported.
The procedure called "fecal microbiota for transplantation" has been hailed for its potentially life-saving benefits. In the simplest of terms, the poop of a healthy person is transferred to someone who is sick to replenish or replace the microbes in the intestinal tract.
In the recent FDA warning, the two adults received samples from one donor. Both had a compromised immune system, and officials said the donor sample was not tested for the drug-resistant strain of E. Coli and other similar bacteria. Later testing found the sort of E. Coli strain discovered in the two patients was similar to one that appeared in the donor sample.
The parents of a 21-year-old Virginia man who contracted a bacterial infection chose the transplant for their son when antibiotics didn't fix the problem.
Poop transplants, like most medical procedures, carry the risk of serious life-threatening infections. WVEC-TV earlier reported the transplant has an 80-90 percent effective rate.
The parents who say their son, who once had extremely low blood pressure and was consistently in the bathroom, told the TV station he recovered.
"Night and day," Sami Montell said.
Following the recent transplant-related death, the FDA now requires fecal donors and the sample itself be screened for any multi-drug resistant organisms.
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