Doctors at St. Joseph's and Crouse hospitals are part of a small group of physicians performing feces transplants to patients who suffer from severe C. diff, which is highly contagious and rampant in healthcare facilities, reports Syracuse.com, and costs U.S. healthcare about $1 billion annually.
Borys Buniak, MD, at St. Joseph's, performed the procedure and said patients often ask him if he is kidding when suggesting fecal transplant, reports Syracuse.com. The FDA considers this an experimental procedure, which can eliminate the infection by restoring the colon.
St. Joseph's has performed 15 fecal transplants since 2012 and Crouse has performed 13, reports Syracuse.com, and there are roughly 100 doctors in the nation who perform this transplant.
Adam Berg, MD, performed his first fecal transplant at Crouse, which was a success. "Bacteria were once considered the enemy," Dr. Berg told Syracuse.com. "Now we are using bacteria to fight disease. That's a fundamental shift in medicine."