Poo transplants have been found to successfully treat one kind of superbug 90 per cent of the time.

Human faecal transplants are making a comeback in modern medicine.

The treatment involves extracting faeces form a healthy donor, processing it, and delivering it to the patient via the rectum using a colonoscope or retention enema, or via a tube through the nose, or by swallowing capsules.

New evidence shows this treatment can be effective in treating C. difficile - a gastrointestinal infection that can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhoea to life-threatening inflammation of the colon.

Gastroenterologist Dr Samuel Costello and co-authors from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide have examined the evidence of this ‘ultimate probiotic’ and the future directions of faecal research.

Dr Costello says the first line of attack against C. difficile is antibiotics but, when this fails, faecal transplants can be used.

“Faecal transplants cure 8 or 9 people out of 10 with recurrent C. difficile infection,” says Dr Costello.

“As well as C. difficile, many conditions have been associated with an imbalance in gut flora. There have been trials to see whether faecal transplants could be effective in treating irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease, autism and other conditions.

“The jury is still out for these other uses and further clinical trials are needed before faecal transplants can be recommended.”

The study is accessible here.