Dr. Sabine Hazan

Well, I wasn't focused on the bifidobacteria until COVID, really. Initially, what I saw with C. diff and what was a progression of the research essentially was, yeah.

Well, I wasn't focused on the bifidobacteria until COVID, really. Initially, what I saw with C. diff and what was a progression of the research essentially was, yeah.

So C. diff is a condition that people have that they come to the doctor with recurring diarrhea, chronic diarrhea, it seems. And if you take the history, they've taken some antibiotics in the past, have gone to the dentist, and then all of a sudden they get diarrhea that nobody can fix. And so C. diff, essentially, the way that we treat C. diff is either antibiotics like flagyl vancomycin.

So C. diff is a condition that people have that they come to the doctor with recurring diarrhea, chronic diarrhea, it seems. And if you take the history, they've taken some antibiotics in the past, have gone to the dentist, and then all of a sudden they get diarrhea that nobody can fix. And so C. diff, essentially, the way that we treat C. diff is either antibiotics like flagyl vancomycin.

And when that doesn't happen, we go into clinical trials. When those didn't work, we would put stools of a healthy donor in the colon, precisely in the cecum of a person, to fix the problem. What we realized is that, especially when we started, when we opened Progena Biome, was really that the microbiome was removed. The diversity, these patients lost their diversity.

And when that doesn't happen, we go into clinical trials. When those didn't work, we would put stools of a healthy donor in the colon, precisely in the cecum of a person, to fix the problem. What we realized is that, especially when we started, when we opened Progena Biome, was really that the microbiome was removed. The diversity, these patients lost their diversity.

That's why they were having recurrent episodes of C. diff. So what we were doing was we were giving vancomycin, killing diversity around the C. diff, but we were missing C. diff. And then we kept killing with another antibiotic. So it's like having a mosquito in your house and you're taking a machete and you're trying to kill it, but you missed the mosquito, but you've destroyed your house.

That's why they were having recurrent episodes of C. diff. So what we were doing was we were giving vancomycin, killing diversity around the C. diff, but we were missing C. diff. And then we kept killing with another antibiotic. So it's like having a mosquito in your house and you're taking a machete and you're trying to kill it, but you missed the mosquito, but you've destroyed your house.

So that's essentially what we were doing 20 years ago and 15 years ago. And what fecal transplant does is it takes all the stools from the healthy donor, puts it back into the colon. So you're essentially re-giving a diversity to suppress the Clostridium difficile. And that was the big discovery prior to COVID. When COVID came on, I figured, well, I've done clinical trials for pharma.

So that's essentially what we were doing 20 years ago and 15 years ago. And what fecal transplant does is it takes all the stools from the healthy donor, puts it back into the colon. So you're essentially re-giving a diversity to suppress the Clostridium difficile. And that was the big discovery prior to COVID. When COVID came on, I figured, well, I've done clinical trials for pharma.

I have a genetic sequencing lab that's looking at the microbiome. We know that, you know, at least I knew that to fight a virus, you need strong microbes. And actually, I wrote the book, Let's Talk Shit in there. There's a mention of bifidobacteria, but it was kind of a hypothesis. It was something that I read in different papers, but it wasn't really concrete. Until COVID.

I have a genetic sequencing lab that's looking at the microbiome. We know that, you know, at least I knew that to fight a virus, you need strong microbes. And actually, I wrote the book, Let's Talk Shit in there. There's a mention of bifidobacteria, but it was kind of a hypothesis. It was something that I read in different papers, but it wasn't really concrete. Until COVID.

And what happened was when we found COVID in the stools, we decided to look at the microbiome. And that's when we noticed that every single patient that had severe COVID was lacking this bacteria, bifidobacteria. And bifidobacteria is found in newborns and it's absent in old people. And so does the discovery of bifidobacteria, the implications of bifidobacteria, its functions.

And what happened was when we found COVID in the stools, we decided to look at the microbiome. And that's when we noticed that every single patient that had severe COVID was lacking this bacteria, bifidobacteria. And bifidobacteria is found in newborns and it's absent in old people. And so does the discovery of bifidobacteria, the implications of bifidobacteria, its functions.

And here we are today with my whole, you know, slogan, which is save the bif, because I'm realizing we're killing more microbes than we can do, you know, so it's crazy.

And here we are today with my whole, you know, slogan, which is save the bif, because I'm realizing we're killing more microbes than we can do, you know, so it's crazy.

Oh, absolutely. So you don't. And that's the... You don't know whether the C. diff... I'm sorry. You don't know whether the loss of bifidobacteria happened because they were sick, they took antibiotics, they got COVID, they got a virus, or the virus created...

Oh, absolutely. So you don't. And that's the... You don't know whether the C. diff... I'm sorry. You don't know whether the loss of bifidobacteria happened because they were sick, they took antibiotics, they got COVID, they got a virus, or the virus created...

the loss of bifidobacteria or the person is so stressed about having the virus that the increased acidity in the stomach and the whole digestive tract is all in disarray, which creates the loss of bifidobacteria. So yeah, there's, you know, it's, you know, in medicine, it's never a one thing and we're not sure of anything really. It's all hypothetical.

the loss of bifidobacteria or the person is so stressed about having the virus that the increased acidity in the stomach and the whole digestive tract is all in disarray, which creates the loss of bifidobacteria. So yeah, there's, you know, it's, you know, in medicine, it's never a one thing and we're not sure of anything really. It's all hypothetical.