In a groundbreaking study conducted at Rambam Health Care Campus, the transplantation of gut bacteria from healthy women to women suffering from severe fibromyalgia has shown remarkable improvements, allowing some to return to full functionality.
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Until now, the chronic pain syndrome has affected the lives of at least a quarter of a million Israelis, with no effective treatments available for alleviating the pain and other symptoms of the disease. This research offers new hope for fibromyalgia treatment, possibly leading to its future cure.
In the study, 15 women with severe fibromyalgia underwent a transplantation of gut bacteria from healthy women, yielding astonishing results. Eleven of the women experienced a dramatic improvement in their condition. The reduction in pain levels, fatigue, and memory impairment surpassed anything seen with previous treatments, and the improvement lasted for months. For the first time in years, these women were able to resume functioning in work, studies, and social life.
This groundbreaking research opens a new avenue for the treatment of fibromyalgia, potentially transforming the lives of those who have long suffered from this debilitating condition.
Fibromyalgia is a syndrome that affects two to four percent of the population, primarily women. It is characterized by persistent and widespread pain throughout the body, fatigue, and disruptions in concentration and memory. It is defined as a syndrome rather than a disease because the cause is unknown; only the collection of characteristic symptoms is recognized.
Since the cause of the syndrome is unknown, the existing treatments focus on efforts, often ineffective, to manage the various symptoms. This may involve medications for pain relief or treatments to assist with fatigue and memory issues. Consequently, even with the optimal treatments available today, most patients continue to suffer from severe symptoms and significant impairment in their quality of life.
In medical examinations, there is no discernible difference between patients and healthy individuals, and therefore, there is no objective way to diagnose the disease, aside from self-reported patient accounts. Due to these reasons and the fact that the condition is more prevalent in women than in men, this illness has been dismissed by the medical establishment for years, and many patients have encountered skepticism from healthcare providers.
In the past decade, various studies have begun to uncover a connection between gut bacteria and various diseases. Gut bacteria are part of the microbiome of the intestines (the microbiome is a vast population of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microorganisms that live in the human body and the bodies of other animals). For many years, their role was not clear, and only with the advancement of research methods in the past 20 years, especially with genetic sequencing tools, have we been able to appreciate the immense diversity of microorganisms living within us and try to understand their functions.
The research findings have now been submitted for publication in a leading medical journal. The study was conducted in collaboration with Prof. Shir and Prof. Arkady Khoutorsky from McGill University in Montreal.
Given the promising results of the initial study in patients, a broader research study is planned to examine the potential of microbiome transplantation to treat fibromyalgia. In a month, a recruiting of 80 participants for a large and comprehensive experiment to further establish the initial findings will begin.