Possible Fecal Transplant Clinical Trials in US

I've always wondered though. How would you do a double blind study of

fecal transplant? Would you give the control group some concoction that

looks and smells like poop, but is actually bacteria free and inert?

Or maybe a study can be persuasive even if it's not double blind.

Another uncontrollable factor is that each donor and each poop specimen is different.

There's no proof yet, but I think it's likely that a considerable number of UC cases

are caused by bacteria.

Consider the history of peptic ulcers. A bacterial cause was not entertained since it was believed that no bacteria could survive in the hydrochloric acid of the stomach.The party line was that peptic ulcers are caused by stress.  Many people made their living by counselling patients on how to reduce stress in their lives. Then, in 1982, the Australians Barry Marshall and Robin Warren identified Helicobacter pylori as the cause. Marshall actually swallowed a dose of H. pylori. He quickly developed stomach ulcers.  Then he cured himself with antibiotics. It wasn't until 1994 that

a National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference recommended

antibiotics as the treatment.

An interesting fact is that roughly half the world's population has H. pylori living

in their stomachs, but only a tiny fraction develop stomach ulcers. So, you could say that those people who do develop ulcers from H. pylori have an autoimmune disease, or

perhaps an imperfection in the mucous membrane lining of their stomachs.

Who cares? It's curable by eliminating the bacteria, H. pylori. May it prove similar

with ulcerative colitis!

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

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

http://www.cdc.gov/ulcer/history.htm

I've always wondered though. How would you do a double blind study of

fecal transplant?

"

This is actually not so difficult - conduct all infusions under general anesthesia.  That way the smell etc doesnt come into play - just need some sort of a brown substance that looks like poop when it gets passed.

Really eager to see how this turns out...this is good news for sure!