DAVIE, Fla. – While the FDA has approved the first medications made from healthy bacteria found in human waste to treat a serious recurrent gut infection, these drugs are only approved for a specific patient population.
For many others, fecal transplantation is still a necessary and vital option.
Though Maximus Orezzoli was born autistic, he grew to be highly functional and healthy until about the age of 8.
“He started to have chronic pain, abdominal pain, diarrhea,” his mom, Ady Arguelles, said.
“For a while, it did ruin my quality of life. I remember getting a bike for my birthday but I couldn’t even ride it,” Orezzoli said.
He was diagnosed with Chrohn’s disease, and while medication initially helped, he ultimately developed recurrent C-Diff infections.
“They would give him antibiotics for it and then it just became a vicious cycle where he was just on antibiotics constantly and the antibiotic would destroy his whole intestinal system again,” said Arguelles.
Dr. Luis Caicedo, a pediatric gastroenterologist with Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, says recurrent C-Diff creates a toxin that leads to potentially deadly problems in the intestine.
That’s where fecal transplantation comes in.
“The essence here is that your flora is not having an equilibrium anymore, so what you’re essentially doing is transferring a healthy microbiome from a healthy person to somebody that has no equilibrium anymore,” Caicedo said.
But even after decades of use in the U.S., the procedure is still considered experimental.
“So you have to state that every time you’re going to do a procedure like this, you get a consent and you have to state to the families that this is like an investigational approach,” Caicedo said.
Orezzoli qualified for the transplant and years after the procedure, he remains infection free and benefitted in other ways.
“We’ve seen the C-Diff completely gone, but the Chrohn’s -- we’ve seen a lot of improvement with the Chrohn’s, as well,” Arguelles said.
“With the Chrohn’s in remission, I’m able to absorb more nutrients through my food because of the repaired intestine track and I’m just full of energy now,” Orezzoli said.
Under research, fecal transplants have also been done for autism, obesity, liver problems, neurology, rheumatologic issues and other severe recurrent infections.