New hope for autistic kids with fecal transplant

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New Delhi: As per a new study, fecal transplants are poised to help and fight a number of conditions like obesity and autism in children.

Children with autism may benefit from fecal transplants - a method of introducing donated healthy microbes into people with gastrointestinal disease to rebalance the gut, a new University of Arizona study has found.

Behavioural symptoms of autism and gastrointestinal distress often go hand-in-hand and both improved when a small group of children with the disorder underwent fecal transplant and subsequent treatment.

In the study of 18 children with autism and moderate to severe gastrointestinal problems, parents and doctors said they saw positive changes that lasted at least eight weeks after the treatment.

Children without autism were included for comparison of bacterial and viral gut composition prior to the study.

"Transplants are working for people with other gastrointestinal problems. And, with autism, gastrointestinal symptoms are often severe, so we thought this could be potentially valuable," said lead author Ann Gregory.

"Following treatment, we found a positive change in GI symptoms and neurological symptoms overall," she said.A growing body of research is drawing connections between the bacteria and viruses that inhabit the gut and problems in the brain, and it is possible the two are tied together in an important way in autism, she said.

(With ANI inputs)