Human stool treatment upends race to treat colon germ

(Reuters) – Drugmakers racing to develop medicines and vaccines to combat a germ that ravages the gut and kills thousands have a new challenger: the human stool. For patients hit hardest by the bacterium Clostridium difficile, getting a “stool transplant” could become a standard treatment within just a few years. Just as blood banks and sperm banks are now commonplace, stool banks may soon dot the landscape. About 3 million Americans are infected annually with the bacterium – also known as C. diff – which spreads mainly through hospitals, nursing homes and doctors’ offices. …