WTH is FMT?

The human gut microbiome is a very complex system with many aspects that still elude scientists, leaving them with a number of questions. Speaking of questions, what the heck is FMT? Fecal microbiota transplantation, or FMT, is when the fecal matter of a person with a healthy microbiome is inserted into the intestinal tract of a recipient in hopes of changing the recipient’s microbiome in a positive way. Maybe you’re wondering why this is such a great concept, or maybe you aren’t. Either way, I’m going to tell you. FMT is useful at treating those who suffer from Clostridium difficile infections, inflammatory bowel diseases and more. (For more information on C. difficile make sure to check out my previous post). According to the NCBI web page, FMT has successfully helped in treating those with a recurrent Clostridium difficile infection.

Unsurprisingly, FMT is an effective method when tackling the problem of depleting bacteria in cancer patients. Cancer patients who take intense amounts of antibiotics have very disrupted gut microbiomes because the antibiotics destroy the normal balance of bacteria. One article found that when cancer patients underwent an auto-FMT, their bacterial communities were replenished to baseline level within a few days’ time. I find this to be very promising news for cancer research.

Throughout the course of my blog, you will notice that all of my posts have something in common. They all have hyperlinks embedded in the discussions. These hyperlinks are important because they cite where I am getting my statistics or factual information from. My cited work should pass the CRAAP test which is basically a list of questions that I need to ask myself to determine if the cited work contains useful information. The library research guide of Benedictine University breaks down what the list of questions are and how any good writer should approach them.

First and foremost, you should ask yourself if the source is up-to-date and if the hyperlink is functional. This is important for obvious reasons; if the hyperlink is not able to lead you directly to the information you are referencing, then it’s useless. Second, you want the source to be relevant to the topic of your blog post. You want sources that help solidify the case you are making and not random bits of unhelpful information. Third, you want to make sure the author or publisher is a credible source and the information distributed is not biased or misguided. Finally, you want to ask yourself what the purpose of the source is. As with any good source, you want to make sure the information is factual and not another writer’s opinion. Once you have passed the CRAAP test, the source is fair game!