Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has been proven effective for patients with Clostridium difficile, a serious bacterial infection of the intestines, but questions remain about its effectiveness as a treatment for other diseases. In a study published April 26 in Inflammatory Bowel Disease, a team of gastroenterologists and researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian led by Drs. Vinita Jacob, Carl Crawford and Randy Longman present data suggesting that FMT is safe and increases the diversity of microbes in patients with active ulcerative colitis.
“Patients with ulcerative colitis typically have a lower diversity of microbes in their guts,” said Dr. Longman, who is also a scientist in the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and a clinician in the Jill Roberts Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and Weill Cornell Medicine. “We know that a more diverse microbiota is correlated with better health, so increasing that diversity may be a key factor in the therapeutic efficacy of FMT for ulcerative colitis.” Read more here.