Fecal transplant no laughing matter

Patients who've had recurring bouts of painful C. diff infection are desperate enough to try anything - including a fecal transplant.

Yes, a fecal transplant is just what it sounds like - a transplant of stool from a healthy person to someone with C. diff.

After treating the patient with antibiotics, doctors emulsify the stool sample and transmit it to the intestines repeatedly over several days through either an enema or a nasogastric tube.

The bacterial flora of the gut is so diverse and complex that doctors don't know everything going on there, but the transplant, while experimental, works about 90 percent of the time.

The procedure is not done in many hospitals, partly because of the risk of transferring a pathogen, but is performed at facilities in Duluth, Minn., and Calgary in Canada.

It's also used to teat ulcerative colitis and irritable bowel syndrome.

The procedure was featured - though not popularized - on a recent episode of ABC-TV's "Grey's Anatomy."