BIOLOGICAL GOLD MINE

An emerging science explores how faecal analysis can revolutionise disease diagnosis and treatment

- ROHINI KRISHNAMURTHY

A GLANCE at Mahatma Gandhi's letters to his near and dear ones Aduring his later years (1920s-40s) reveals his obsession with food and health. Besides sharing his philosophy and advice on healthy eating, he also emphasises on good bowel movement. Indeed, as his biographers have chronicled, Gandhi was fascinated by clues that faecal matter provides on the state of one's health.

Researchers find merit in the motion even today. In 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic, scientists found RNA fragments of the SARS-COV-2 virus in Ahmedabad's Old Pirana Waste Water Treatment Plant. Months later, in May 2021, researchers from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Indian Institute of Chemical Technology found the virus in samples from sewage treatment plants in Hyderabad. Both papers were published in Science of The Total Environment.

Researchers opine that the study of human faces can not just help trace the spread of a disease like COVID-19 but also revolutionise healthcare diagnosis.

About 75 per cent of faeces is water, and the remaining is made up of proteins, undigested fibres and fats, salts, cells from the intestinal lining, mucus and organic matter. Some 25-50 per cent of the organic matter comprises microbes. “These give a snapshot of the gut microbiome and its metabolic activities, Vineet Sharma, associate professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal, tells Down To Earth (DTE).