C-Diff Kills 15,000 People A Year. Feces Donations May Change That

The article describes the cause and effects of the virus Clostridium difficile (c-diff) when antibiotics are misused. C-diff is a virus that has killed over 15,000 people per year. It is one of the most common infectious disease in the U.S. This disease is caused by antibiotics leaving an ideal environment for c-diff. The disease causes horrific diarrhea and holes in the large intestines. The key point in the article is that this virus has one rare cure; this cure is feces transplant. Feces transplant sounds repulsing and completely and utterly unsanitary but it is the one cure that has actually been proven to work.

The problem with this cure is that it is unavailable and hard to find a specialist that actually does this transplant. The article stated that on average people live about 4 hours away from a specialist that does these transplants. Having travel this far to get a feces transplant is absurd when you could do this process at home. This transplant is extremely helpful and should be in easier access. What I found interesting about the article is that antibiotics, one of the most common medications used and prescribed actually can kill people. What I also find striking is that doctors were using antibiotics to cure a patient with c-diff even though antibiotics caused this disease which did not make much sense to me.

I disagree that people will be open to the idea of putting another persons natural wastes in their body; but I do agree that if the treatment works and cures the patient almost instantly than it should be one of the first options granted to the patient. One of the insights that the article provided is that c-diff constantly comes back after your first encounter. Some people have suffered eight bouts of c-diff in several years, giving up hope they almost remove their entire colon until offered feces transplant. My personal relevance to this article is since I have ulcers I am constantly given antibiotics. This article not only helps me ask my doctors to reduce my dosage but also find a way to get better but also preventing this disease.

In this article the fallacy used according to Brown and Keely is Impossible certainty. Impossible Certainty is assuming that a research conclusion should be rejected if it is not absolutely certain. People feel disgusted when they hear that someone else's feces can be inserted in you to cure you. Doctors are still hesitant about this procedure; so much so that they are still debating if it should be the first option given to the patient upon arrival. In all the cases that this cure has been used has been proven to work. No matter how uncomfortable it sounds we should focus on the most important part which is curing the patient.