http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01226992

Thelma thanks for this.

I note that the completion date is December 2013 and an exclusion criterion is severe motility disorder (possibly PD would be considered such).

Frustration!

John

A letter in New Scientist (12th Feb, p28, from I. Erill) suggests that a possible mechanism by which FT might work is that they contain bacteriophages which might eradicate bad bacteria.

A bacteriophage is a virus that infects bacteria.

John

On Wednesday, 9th March, 1630, BBC Radio 4 aired the following programme:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode..._Gut_Bacteria/

(I'm not sure if this BBC service is available outside of the UK.)

PD is not mentioned, but still of interest, e.g.:
- probably only one doctor in the UK is doing faecal transplants (for c. difficile, 20/21 successful);
- role of gut flora in some cancers, IBS, obesity.

John

Nothing new about Parkinson's directly, but the University of Chicago Hospital hopes to offer FT for, I think GI problems, from this autumn. See,

http://sciencelife.uchospitals.edu/2...the-bottom-up/

The article above refers to the following forum thread which has literally hundreds of posts about FT (usually within the context of UC) with dozens of accounts of personal experience.

http://www.healingwell.com/community...f=38&m=2100072

(Note: the thread has been divided into a new "Part" every hundred or so posts. Links between the Parts are provided.)

John

Video of a Norwegian man with Parkinson's taking a faecal transplant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLAD4xpNGtQ

He hasn't noticed any improvement.

John

John, it's hard to tell, but it looks like that video was posted June 14, 2012....I would think it's a bit soon to say it does not work, unless he did the treatment long ago and is just now posting the video?

I am one of those who believes some horrendous imbalance causes PD which is made worse by not addressing the underlying imbalance and compounded by drugs. This may not be the fix (notice that the fecal soup he used has been brewing in a lab for 15 years-not sure that is a good idea!) but it's a step in the right direction, and mercy, thanks to this man for being a super guinea pig. He is one brave soul.

https://www.michaeljfox.org/foundati...?grant_id=1008

Diego24 thanks for the reference.

"Intestinal and Nasal Microbiota of Patients with Idiopathic Parkinson's disease"

"We will recruit 100 Parkinson’s disease patients and 100 control subjects. ... We will collect bacterial samples from the nose and stool of these subjects. ... we will read out the genetic code of all bacteria contained in these samples and will be able to identify which species of bacteria are present in the samples. Using complex cluster computing we will compare the pattern of bacterial species between Parkinson’s disease patients and controls and look for specific abnormalities in Parkinson’s disease patients."

IMHO this is well worth doing. The title mentions "Microbiota" which is broader than just bacteria, as mentioned in the description. I hope this wider definition is taken, with fungi being looked at as well.

John

If C.diff bacteria are a culprit in PD as the following quote suggests,

"He recently received funding to carry out a clinical trial using anti-C. difficile antibiotics to treat 18 cases of Parkinson's — an idea that occurred to him after observing that patients with chronic constipation and Parkinson's who received fecal transplants experienced a marked decrease in their neurological symptoms"

Read more: Same poop, different gut - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences http://www.the-scientist.com/news/di...#ixzz1ypbc3900

then some lab rat out there might try Florastor or another brand of saccharomyces boulardii yeast, known to combat C.difficile.

http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=15293

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccharomyces_boulardii