Wellcome Collection / Wikipedia
Wounded soldiers on a stretcher in Pushvillers, France, during World War I
Stomach problems? Perhaps the prescribed medicine is precisely the refined feces of a soldier from the First World War.
In 1917, a group of German soldiers arrived at a military hospital near Freiburg after returning from a campaign in Dobrudja, a Balkan region ravaged by disease.
All the soldiers had been hit by a severe dysentery caused by bacteria from the group Shigella – with the exception of onewhich, surprisingly, had remained immune to disease who devastated his comrades.
The case caught the attention of the Professor Alfred Nisslea doctor at the hospital, who became increasingly interested in the bacterial content of the human intestine, says .
During his classes, Nissle often asked his medical students to provide a stool sampleadded a pathogenic strain of Salmonella and left the mixture on an agar plate overnight.
Normally, Salmonella thrived and dominated the remaining bacteria. But, in rare cases, it barely developedand so on Escherichia coli ended up prevailing.
Nissle suspected that these fSpecial times contained certain strains of E. coli capable of suppressing Salmonella activityeither through competition for nutrients in the intestine, or through the production of antimicrobial substances that kept the pathogen under control.
He named this phenomenon “antagonistic activity”.To investigate this further, Nissle designed experiments that allowed him to classify the different strains of E. coli on a scale that ranged from “strongly antagonistic” to “weakly antagonistic”.
Upon learning of the case of the mysterious soldier, Nissle didn’t hesitate. A sample of the soldier’s feces was collected and his team managed to isolate a strain ofand E. coli com particularly high antagonistic activity.
It is not known for sure How does this unusual strain of E. coli appeared in that man’s intestine. Maybe it was due to a peculiar diet during childhood, contact with farmed animals or the consumption of fermented foods rich in beneficial bacteria.
It may also have resulted from a early infection that modified your intestinal ecosystem, or contact with contaminated water which introduced a particularly resistant strain of E. coli. Unfortunately, little or nothing is known about his medical or personal history.
Regardless of its origin, the strain proved to be special. In subsequent laboratory tests and experiments, it has consistently demonstrated strong antagonistic activity against pathogenic bacteria. The bacterium was named E. coli Nissle 1917named after its discoverer.
The doctor began to Cultivate the strain on a large scaleencapsulating it in gelatin capsules, with the aim of using it as a treatment. The bacterial preparation was eventually patented by Nissle under the trade name Mutaflorwith production passed to a pharmaceutical company.
Some sources report that Adolf Hitlerwho suffered chronically from stomach problems, will have received doses of E. coli Nissle 1917 through your personal doctor, Theodor Morrell.
According to the same sources, after six months of treatmentHitler achieved return to eating normallywithout suffering from abdominal cramps. However, years later, the gastrointestinal problems returned. What a shame.
Beyond obscure anecdotes involving dictators, there is clinical evidence that supports the promises of E. coli Nissle 1917.
Some of the most interesting investigations concern the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseasesby reducing inflammation and regulating immune responses in the intestine.
Although the science is not yet conclusive, several studies indicate that this strain may help maintain remission in patients with ulcerative colitis. In certain European countries, it has even been approved as an initial treatment for this pathology.
The current makers of Mutaflor also point to data that suggests it may relieve chronic constipation in adults and diarrhea in babies.
And all this goes back to an unknown soldierwhose gut microbiome refused to give in to the disease. We may never know his name, nor how his organism developed such a useful bacterial “anomaly” — but his legacy literally persists in the intestines of many.
