Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
I know the holidays are coming up, and I know that sparks the "giving spirit" in many, but please think before you donate to the new FDA approved stool bank.
Some people have concerns about the dangers of not screening feces or stool donors for Lyme and tick borne diseases before the donations are collected and transplanted in others.
"A recently launched nonprofit stool bank, described by its founders as “like the Red Cross, but for stool,” offers physicians rigorously screened, tested and ready fecal preparations at a low cost. ....
The protocol begins by screening donors, including administering a 105-item questionnaire, conducting a clinical assessment, and analyzing their stool for pathogens using 20 serological and stool-based assays."
"Although there have been several instances of donor-to-patient norovirus transmission due to inadequate pathogen screening (Am J Gastroenterol 2013;108:1367), Dr. Brandt said drawing connections between donor stool and post-transplant illness in recipients has been a challenge.
“Clinicians don’t always test patients for the presence of infectious diseases and pathogens before performing FMTs,” Dr. Brandt said, urging this practice to be followed."
Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- Testing / assessing / screening donor for just 20 pathogens. Oh, well, then. Ugh. What idiocy to think that covers all the bases.
As if the testing would be accurate or even inclusive in either donor or recipient. No. No. No. No. No. I'll get my probiotics and flora from other sources, thanks very much. There are other ways to both help prevent C.Diff and to treat.
Likely, far less expensive ways, too. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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posted
Forget the Lyme, all the abx (and antimicrobials of any sort,) have our guts so screwed up that we are worthless as donors. Because of this, donations from Lyme patients would cause the recipient more harm than good.
Posts: 845 | From Eastern USA | Registered: Jul 2006
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Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
You both are right. I'm still having trouble digesting this. (Pardon the punn.)
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/