Mike Little's Journalized

I absolutely must post a link to this story! Flatulence Helps Fight Disease.

“British scientists say a hi-tech test focused on flatus — the pungent gas emanating from stool — is highly effective in quickly identifying tough-to-spot viral or bacterial infections of the gut.”

“While flatulence may be the stuff of jokes, the fight against dangerous gastrointestinal infections is no laughing matter.
Worldwide, over 600,000 children die each year from chronic diarrhea, most of them in poorer countries without easy access to sophisticated medical laboratories.”

“So far the technology has displayed impressive accuracy, correctly identifying the potentially life-threatening bug, Clostridium difficile, 100 percent of the time and the Norwalk virus — responsible for last year’s highly publicized cruise-ship outbreaks — 93 percent of the time. The test was also highly accurate in spotting rotavirus, a major cause of diarrhea in children.”

Hmmm… I wonder if I’ll be able to claim ‘medical research’ the next time I ‘let one go’?