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Designer Sh*t - Prescription Poop's Promising Future

March 26, 2024

A new medical approach that smells bad, but is full of promise: fecal transplantation. The process involves taking stool from a healthy donor and implanting it into the gut of a sick individual.

https://p.dw.com/p/4cw99
DW Dokumentationen | Designer Sh*t - Heilende Häufchen
Image: Scorpion

Director Saffron Cassaday films her own experience of the treatment.

DW Dokumentationen | Designer Sh*t - Heilende Häufchen
Image: Scorpion

Cassaday has suffered from ulcerative colitis, a chronic and very painful intestinal disease, for nearly a decade. So far, traditional medicine has failed to come up with a cure. When Cassaday hears about the possibility of a fecal transplant, she decides to try it out for herself. 

Cassaday begins her trial by persuading her partner to donate stool. She also visits a startup that sells especially sought-after stool from a super donor, investigates the status of medical research into ulcerative colitis, and speaks to others affected by it. She discovers that Fecal Microbiota Transplant may also be able to help treat autism, in addition to ulcerative colitis. The filmmaker documents her own personal experiment over several years.

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SAT 13.04.2024 – 11:03 UTC
SAT 13.04.2024 – 22:03 UTC
SUN 14.04.2024 – 05:03 UTC

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