Overview
- Researchers reporting in Nature Microbiology analyzed 22 diagnosed patients alongside household partners and healthy controls in the biggest ABS cohort to date.
- During symptom flares, patient stool cultures produced markedly more ethanol than samples from partners or controls, correlating with intoxication-like episodes.
- Species-level shifts implicated Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, which were more abundant during flares than in remission.
- The pronounced lab signal suggests a future stool-based diagnostic could be feasible, according to the study authors.
- One participant achieved sustained remission for more than 16 months after a second fecal microbiota transplant paired with a different antibiotic regimen, though evidence remains limited for this rare condition.