We know about blood donation. Much less stool donation. The subject, brought to light by Franceinfo on October 4, 2026, is necessarily surprising: in hospital, stools can become a medical preparation intended for certain patients. Not to “clean” the intestine, nor to treat all digestive disorders, but in a very specific situation: recurrent intestinal infections with Clostridioides difficile.
This bacteria can cause significant diarrhea, particularly when the intestinal microbiota is unbalanced, for example after certain antibiotic treatments. In some patients, the infection returns despite treatment. It is within this framework that hospital teams can offer
fecal microbiota transplantation. The principle: introduce a preparation from the stool of a selected donor into the patient’s digestive tract, in order to help rebalance their microbiota.
Why can donating stool help a patient?
The intestinal microbiota refers to all the microorganisms that live in our intestine: bacteria, viruses, fungi, yeasts, etc. When it is severely unbalanced, certain bacteria can take over. This is the case of Clostridioides difficileresponsible for colitis which can recur and seriously weaken the patients concerned.
Fecal transplantation therefore aims to provide a microbiota from a healthy donor, prepared in a medical setting. According to the ANSM definition, it involves introducing the stools of a donor into the digestive tract of a recipient to rebalance an altered intestinal flora. To better understand the disease itself, you can read our article on colitis at Clostridium difficileits symptoms, its transmission and its treatments.
Accuracy is important: today, the established use in clinical routine mainly concerns recurrent infections with C. difficile. Other avenues are being studied, but they should not be confused with this already regulated hospital indication.
Who can become a stool donor?
Contrary to what one might imagine, it is not enough to know someone who “eats well” or who does not have digestive symptoms. Donors are recruited by specialized centers, after clinical and biological selection. The AP-HP fecal transplant center, attached in particular to Saint-Antoine and Pitié-Salpêtrière, indicates that it takes care of both patients affected by these infections and volunteers wishing to become donors.
The selection is based on several stages: questionnaires, medical interview, non-inclusion criteria and examinations. The teams are particularly looking for infectious agents likely to be transmitted. The objective is to limit the risk for the recipient as much as possible.
A potential donor is therefore not automatically eligible. The medical team checks their state of health, their history, any recent treatments, digestive disorders, as well as the results of the screenings. This sorting is central: the “donation” only has meaning if it is part of a security chain.
What happens to the donation in the hospital?
Once the donor is accepted, the stools are not used as is. The AP-HP center explains that transplants are produced and coordinated in a hospital circuit, with gastroenterologists, infectious disease specialists, pharmacists and laboratories. Collection, preparation and delivery take place in particular through the hospital pharmacy.
It is this circuit that distinguishes a medical fecal transplant from an improvised practice.
You should never try to reproduce this at home.
The risk of transmitting an infectious agent or delaying appropriate treatment is real. In the event of persistent or recurrent diarrhea, the good reflex is to consult.
In recurrent infections with Clostridioides difficilethe AP-HP fecal transplant center announces
80 to 90% success. This data should be understood as presentation information from the center for this specific indication, and not as a promise valid for all digestive diseases.
For interested volunteers, the process is simple in principle, but very structured in practice:
contact a specialized centerthen let the team verify eligibility. Donating stool can help patients, but only in a strict hospital setting.