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Miraculous Recovery: Man Saved by Fecal Transplant After Intestine Produces Alcohol

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A corrective approach to alter a man’s microbiome prevented excessive alcohol production in his body.

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A Massachusetts man experienced severe inebriation due to his intestines autonomously producing alcohol, a condition known as autobrewer syndrome. His recovery began after ingesting fecal bacteria from a healthy donor.

This retired U.S. Marine, in his 60s, faced unusual symptoms following multiple antibiotic treatments for prostate inflammation. Until then, he maintained good health and only occasionally drank alcohol. His sudden, overwhelming intoxication left him disoriented and lethargic.

He sought help at emergency rooms repeatedly, but medical staff were skeptical about his claims of not drinking. Eventually, a diagnosis of autobrewer syndrome—a rare condition where gut microbes produce excessive alcohol—was confirmed.

His severe inebriation hindered routine activities, and he even required breathalyzer locks on his vehicles to avoid legal issues.

After connecting with a patient support group, he discovered fecal transplants could potentially treat his condition. This led him to contact Dr. Elizabeth Homan from Massachusetts General Hospital.

Initially, Dr. Homan dismissed his voicemail messages, as he sounded intoxicated. Eventually, the man’s wife reached out, explaining the situation, which prompted a collaboration with Dr. Bernd Schnabl, an expert on autobrewer syndrome. Together, they planned a fecal transplant for him.

Prior to the procedure, Homan, Schnabl, and their team conducted a comprehensive study on the causes of autobrewer syndrome. They analyzed stool samples from 22 patients with the condition and 21 healthy relatives, looking for variations in gut bacteria. “Our lab had a distinct smell,” Schnabl recollects.

The research revealed that fecal samples from patients produced significant alcohol when cultured, likely due to high levels of specific intestinal bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, which ferment sugars to create alcohol. Previous cases had primarily linked the syndrome to excessive yeast growth.

To treat the Massachusetts man, Homan administered oral capsules derived from a healthy male donor’s fecal matter, known for having an optimal gut microbiome. “This donor has been carefully selected and is a personal trainer who prioritizes fitness,” she explains. When the capsules were analyzed, researchers noted exceptional gut microbiota within them.

Gradually, the man’s autobrewer syndrome resolved as the harmful alcohol-producing bacteria in his gut were replaced with healthier strains from the donor. “One of the highlights of this case was meeting his daughter, a medical school graduate, who expressed gratitude for bringing her ‘old dad back,'” Homan shared.

Schnabl mentions that most individuals likely produce minimal alcohol in their intestines due to the presence of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. However, significantly elevated levels lead to inebriating alcohol production, often triggered by long-term antibiotic use that disrupts the microbiome, which was the case for this patient.

Currently, Homan and Schnabl are conducting a large-scale trial to assess the effectiveness of oral fecal transplants for other patients with autobrewer syndrome.

Topics:

  • Gut Health /
  • Intestinal Microbiota

Source: www.newscientist.com

Iberian lynx saved from the brink of extinction thanks to conservation efforts

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Things are getting better Iberian Lynx.

About 20 years ago, the pointy-eared wild cat was on the brink of extinction, but as of Thursday, the International Union for Conservation of Nature announced that the species is no longer endangered.

Thanks to successful conservation efforts, the animal, which is native to Spain and Portugal, is now considered almost certainly not threatened, according to the latest IUCN Red List.

A baby Iberian lynx in Doñana National Park, Aznalcázar, Spain, in 2018.
Antonio Pizarro/AP Files

In 2001, there were only 62 mature Iberian lynx left in the Iberian Peninsula. The Iberian lynx is a medium-sized, spotted brown cat with distinctive pointed ears and a pair of whisker-like tufts of facial hair. The extinction of this species is closely linked to the extinction of its main prey, the European rabbit, habitat degradation, and human activities.

Alarm bells were sounded and breeding, reintroduction and conservation projects were launched, as well as efforts to restore habitats such as dense forests, Mediterranean scrub and pastures. Portugal The IUCN said the population was 648 adults, but the most recent count last year found there were more than 2,000 adults and juveniles.

“This huge population increase is a really huge success,” Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the IUCN Red List Division, told The Associated Press.

Iberian Lynx.
Juan Giribet/VWPics/VWPics via AP

One of the keys to the rabbit population’s recovery has been attention to rabbit populations that were affected by changes in agricultural production, which has led to a steady increase in lynx numbers, Hilton-Taylor said.

“The greatest recovery of this cat species has been achieved through conservation efforts thanks to the dedicated collaboration between public and scientific institutions, NGOs, the private sector and local residents, including local landowners, farmers, game wardens and hunters,” Francisco Javier Salcedo Ortiz, coordinator of the EU-funded LIFE Lynx-Connect project, said in a statement.

IUCN has worked with local communities to raise awareness of the Iberian lynx’s importance to the ecosystem, which has helped reduce animal deaths from poaching and roadkill, and farmers receive compensation if an Iberian lynx kills their livestock, Hilton-Taylor said.

More than 400 Iberian lynx have been reintroduced into parts of Portugal and Spain since 2010 and now live over at least 3,320 square kilometres of land, up from 449 square kilometres in 2005.

Iberian lynx in Doñana National Park, Aznalcázar, Spain, 2019.
Antonio Pizarro/AP Files

“Everything has to be taken into consideration before we release the lynx, and we revise our protocols approximately every four years,” said Ramon Pérez de Ayala, Spain’s species project manager for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), one of the NGOs involved in the project.

While the latest Red List status offers hope for other species in a similar situation, Hilton-Taylor said the lynx was not out of danger yet.

The biggest uncertainty is what will happen to rabbits, an animal vulnerable to virus outbreaks and other diseases that can be transmitted by livestock.

“We’re also concerned about the issue of climate change and how habitats will respond to it, particularly the increased impact of fires such as we’ve seen in the Mediterranean over the past year or two,” Hilton-Taylor said.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Rescued Vultures Saved from Poisoning and Electrocution

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Egyptian vultures have been in rapid decline since the 1980s

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A large-scale international effort has successfully addressed the vulture threat and protected endangered vultures along migration routes between Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Egyptian vulture (Neophron Percnopterus) can be shot, poisoned or electrocuted by livestock farmers as they travel through 14 countries each year.

The combination of these threats has reduced the number of breeding pairs in Eastern Europe from 600 in the 1980s to just 50 today.

Since 2012, conservationists working along bird migration routes have been gradually eliminating these threats. In the Balkans, the number of poisoning incidents was halved between 2018 and 2022 by working with farmers to reduce the use of poisonous livestock predator baits eaten by vultures.

The project will also insulate live parts near the perches of more than 10,000 utility poles in countries ranging from Bulgaria to Ethiopia, and the use of vulture body parts substitutes in traditional medicine in Niger and Nigeria. promoted.

In addition, 30 captive-bred vultures were released in Bulgaria, an important breeding area, between 2016 and 2022.

Over the past 10 years, conservation efforts have reduced adult mortality by 2% and juvenile mortality by 9%, and the population has increased by 0.5% annually, according to Steffen Oppel of the Swiss Institute of Ornithology and colleagues.

“Currently, the population is stable with a very small increase,” Oppel says.

The research also benefited other migratory birds that follow the same route as the vultures, including buzzards, eagles and storks.

Oppel and his colleagues sighted thousands of storks (ciconia) Arriving in southern Turkey, many were electrocuted when their wings touched live cables when they landed on utility poles. To avoid this, plastic or rubber covers were used to insulate power cables in areas where conservation teams found large numbers of dead birds.

People are also benefiting, he says. “We have had great success with companies in Bulgaria, for example, and now in Turkey, who have realized that it is in their interests that there will be far fewer interruptions in service if they insulate power lines. It is.”

Any intervention to save vultures is important and the Balkans project has a good chance of success. kelly walter of valpro, a conservation organization in South Africa. “This is an all-out war, and every in-situ and ex-situ conservation intervention and strategy is important to do everything within our means.” [to save the species],” she says.

Southern Africa once had its own breeding population of Egyptian vultures, but they are now extinct.

Flyway funded by the European Union project Egyptian vultures became extinct in the Balkans at the end of 2022, but Oppel says work needs to continue to prevent mortality rates from rising again.

“On the one hand, we want to say, ‘Yes, we have achieved something great because we have successfully avoided the demographic trend of declining immigration,’ but on the other hand, we want to make sure that politicians understand this. You have to let it happen. It’s not fixed forever.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com