C. diff, fecal transplants and OpenBiome: An interview with Mark Smith

On the Saturday, Mar. 1, 2014 airing of the Outbreak News This Week Radio Show, I had the opportunity to talk about C. diff, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and the operations of OpenBiome with Research Director and co-founder of the organization, Mark Smith, PhD (c) (Listen below).

Image/Drawn by Duncan Lock and released into the Public Domain

Smith explained the operation and mission of OpenBiome, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding access to fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) therapies.

In addition, he gave a detailed introduction to fecal transplants and how this therapy works in patients suffering with recurring Clostridium difficile infections.

He also gave a very interesting description of the stool donation process to include quality assurance and testing of the donation.

Smith discussed other details how a patient and their physician can access OpenBiome’s services and pricing.

Clostridium difficile is one of the most common hospital-acquired infections in the U.S., and infection rates are at historically high levels. 500,000 people fall ill from C. difficile each year, and at least 14,000 die. Most people (around 80%) will recover from C. difficile after one course of antibiotics, but others will face recurrent infections that do not respond to antibiotic therapy.

Listen to the podcast of the complete show

Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) is a powerful treatment for patients with recurrent C. difficile. In many independent clinical trials, 90% of patients that have failed previous courses of antibiotics have recovered after receiving FMT.  Many patients recover within a few days of receiving the treatment after years of suffering.

To learn more about OpenBiome and the services they offer in FMT, visit their website at OpenBiome.org

For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page and the Outbreak News This Week Radio Show page.

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