The micro-organisms in the intestine play an important part in developing Type 1 diabetes and may reverse it.
Mark Atkinson of the University of Florida in Miami has shown that the ratio of Bacteroidetes to Firmicutes indicates early signs of autoimmune reaction that leads to type 1 diabetes.
He thinks a therapeutic bacterium mix could be created from the faeces of a healthy person and transplanted into the small intestine of the at risk person using a long tube to reach it through the mouth. The patient’s native microbes would be removed first.