Ramona Rajapakse recently published an article in her field of gastroenterology, entitled: Longitudinal Microbiome analysis of single donor fecal microbiota transplantation in patients with recurrent Clostridium difficile infection and/or ulcerative colitis. A summary of the article and citation is noted below.

Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is a very effective therapy for refractory C Difficile infection (CDI). In an open label prospective study we monitored the fecal microbial composition in the recipient with CDI alone, CDI and ulcerative colitis (UC) or UC alone before and after transplant, in comparison to the donor.

We found a marked decrease in strictly anaerobic bacteroides and a relative increase in certain microaerophilic phyla in the CDI only and CDI and UC patients prior to transplantation with relative normalization of ratios after transplantation. We did not find a significant difference in the microbiota of UC alone patients before or after transplant. These differences may explain why FMT is effective in the treatment of refractory CDI but has been disappointing in the treatment of UC.

Mintz M, Khair S, Grewal S, LaComb JF, Park J, Channer B, et al. (2018) Longitudinal microbiome analysis of single donor fecal microbiota transplantation in patients with recurrent Clostridium difficile infection and/or ulcerative colitis. PLoS ONE 13(1): e0190997.