Monday, April 24, 2006

Clostridium Difficile


Today at lunch, my colleagues and I were discussing a complication of the prevalent use of antibiotics: Clostridium Difficile

Clostridium difficile
is an anaerobic bacteria living naturally as part of our intestine's flora. However, with antibiotics use the elimination of other "protective" colonic microflora fascilitates C difficile's over colonisation and growth. C difficile releases toxins that initiates inflammation of the mucosal surface causing severe diarrhoea, leading to dehydration and more worryingly; death.

Traditionally C. difficile is treated with oral antibiotics, the two main ones are Metronidazole and Vancomycin. More recently "live probiotic" yoghurt (for example Vitagen) and yeast have been utilised to promote recolonisation of the colon with normal colon microflora.

At this point a friend of mine interjected, "Did you know that the latest development in treating C difficile are with faecal enemas?"

A faecal enema is the procedure of introducing through the anus of a patient affected by C difficile, faeces obtained from a healthy individual.

Sick!

Until that point I was enormously enjoying a curry at lunch, but as you could imagine, I immediately lost my appetite.



Credits for images:
1. www.health.qld.gov.au
2. http://media.romanvenable.net

16 comments:

Mama Pongkey said...

There is such a thing as a faecal enema?

Gross.

I thought looking at parasites swimming in saline mixed with human and primate faeces was bad enough...

Anonymous said...

KKL

further reading:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=13592638&dopt=Abstract

-and-

http://curezone.com/cleanse/enema/default.asp#What_is_Fecal_Flora_Replacement

I was surprised as you are KKL

Anonymous said...

Hehe....from maggot to sugar treatment of wounds to faecal enema....wonder what next huh? That's the dynamism of modern medicine!

Anonymous said...

Dear guys, I have to be off to KL today. Tonight not sure yet where to stay. maybe at the Ascott (fast becoming my fav hotel). any way, maybe should write a post on Anime more.. hehehe seems to generate a lot of replies.

Personally i like anime. however, my specialties are more towards the robot kind - read mecha - (the kind ichi hates) and shonen kinds like Bleach.... the touchy feelie slow moving stuff...snore snore..

my fav till today has got to be Transformers and the Macross series... I remembered how amazed I was when the SDF-1 transformed into a big a@# robot... wow.... the reason for the transformation ..well when they jumped from earth to Jupiter, their jump drives disappeared so were unable to fire the main guns in the normal fasion, like they did on earth when the Zentreadi attacked, so to fire they needed the secondary generator, which was located near the bridge area, to be closer to the main guns to fire. So to bring both closer, DR Lang had to transform SDF-1. Hmmm seems like a dumb idea... hehehe.. apa salah pasang cable panjang....

Regards

Anonymous said...

faecal enemas tu is the old fashion way to treat CDiff diarrhoea juga lah mynn, in the days gone by. my reg cakap dia guna masa dia PRHO dulu, but i doubt they use it anymore due to vCJD risk?

Mama Sarah said...

sedap sikit hati i baca entry ni. faeces no faeces.

Mama Pongkey said...

Mynn

You know what? After having a quick look at your links, I conclude that I may benefit from faecal enema. After all, the source of faeces kan dah ada (2 orang budak comey!). Er but am not sure I love my nephews that much so as to have their %&^%R3 shoved up my "$$R%T$%!!!

Mama Pongkey said...

Having said that.. I guess that is a quick and dirty way (literally!) to get the required flora. A 'cleaner' way would be to culture faecal swabs in labs and clone out the different microbes. Probably if I think hard enough I can remember what growth agar would be suitable for this purpose. *kuasa jugak sebenarnya*

Anonymous said...

mynn, u might be interested in this:

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
OPPORTUNITY TO START A CAREER WITH ANOTHER ENLIGHTENED INSTITUTION !!!

Institut Jantung Negara, or The National Heart Institute invites suitably qualified applicants from amongst graduates in the field of medicine to apply for General Practitioner and Specialist positions in the centre.

Interested ?

Please write to:
Iwan Asmady
The Human Resource Director
Institut Jantung Negara

asmady_iwan@ijn.com

Thank you

Anonymous said...

i like that --> THE Human Resource Director

sounds pretty mighty, heehee

Mama Pongkey said...

IJN kewl... :) go go mynn!

mynn said...

seriously, thanks auntie de.

I'll send my CV ASAP.

jom lah join mana2 tempat i kerja, boleh kita gaduh over patient care (nauzubillah, only joking)

Anonymous said...

yeah, im thinking of applying too. bukan gaduh, mynn, we can help each other out! nanti bila i refer pts to you, u jumpa cepat2 lah.. heehee.. and vice versa of course

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