MICROBIOTA OF ALICANTE | Altered microbiota is associated with infections, tumors, diabetes and neurological problems.

CSIC detects the presence of malformed proteins in the gut microbiota associated with Parkinson’s disease.

These disorders have become main reason for consultation digestive doctors, influencing more than half of patients. These cases refer to so-called functional disorders and changes in the microbiota are usually achieved through progressive research in affected individuals. Alicante General Hospital has provincial reference unit for tests for microbiota disturbances, where other hospital centers in the province refer the most complex patients; although most of them have the resources to handle some cases.

Sugar and processed

Microbiota is what organisms are scientifically called. bacteria We have flora in our intestines that are harmed by modern living habits such as consuming large amounts of sugar and processed foods, and stress.

Alicante Hospital doctor José Cameo from Digestivo, microbiota expert.

“Simply put, this is not a “plumbing” problem; there is nothing closed or perforated in the bowel, but rather it is affecting how it functions.”

Dr. Jose Ignacio Cameo. Deputy Digestive Service of the General Hospital of Alicante

“The bad life we ​​lead can eventually have a negative impact and lead us to this type of disorder,” explains Dr. José Ignacio Cameo, assistant in the digestive service at the Alicante General Hospital, who emphasizes that there has been a noticeable significant increase people with altered microbiota in recent years. “Simply put, this is not a “plumbing” problem, there is nothing closed or perforated in the bowel, but rather it is affecting how it functions. In fact, we haven’t had a chance to evaluate this before because these are relatively modern tests. , but it’s true. Gradually it seems that demand

assessments of this type of problem are growing.

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This disorder depends not only on age, but also on risk factors such as the presence tender intestines due to an inflammatory disease or cancer surgery.

Nutritional intolerance

Most often, patients with altered flora suffer Nutritional intolerance, especially certain carbohydrates and sugars, lactose, fructose, fructans, gluten or sorbitol. “There can be several possibilities, and by consuming these nutrients through vegetables, sweets or legumes, it creates reaction in the intestines leading to the formation of gaswhich is sometimes even annoying.”

The imbalance manifests itself as the most common symptoms, with “bloating especially after eating, sometimes accompanied by cramps and changes, it is a method of defecation that, depending on the type of bacterial overgrowth, can cause diarrhea or, rather, constipation.” changes in menstrual rhythm but this is not so common.

Nurse with packets of breath test samples from different patients

Specialist

In these cases, patients turned to a specialist A digestive system exam by your primary care doctor, who you see when you have stomach pain or certain changes. The doctor notes that Women tend to suffer more problems due to altered microbiota. because functional disorders were historically thought to affect females more. “Sometimes there may be some bias in these studies, but at least this is what is considered good.”

“The bad life we ​​lead can eventually have a negative impact and lead us to this type of disorder.”

Dr. Jose Ignacio Cameo. Deputy Digestive Service of the General Hospital of Alicante

Regarding his possible relationship with irritable bowel syndromethis doctor recalls that this latter pathology “is what we call a mixed bag with a lot of things inside it. After all, it is a description of symptoms and there can be many reasons within it. One of them may be a violation of the microbiota. Not the only one, sometimes there are digestion disorders, for example, bile salts or problems with enzymes containing certain sugars. There are more possibilities, but this is one of them and it occurs relatively often.

Proof

Patients can undergo different types of microbiota tests. First of all, fecal examination which is little used because, he argues, we do not yet know how to interpret the results very well, except for the fact that it extrapolates the results of the most basic laboratory tests, which do not always apply to the clinical reality of the patient.

What is SIBO, a newly diagnosed syndrome that already affects 22% of the population?

Yes, it is used more in everyday clinical practice.a test for bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine, which is known as SIBO by its English acronym. When the patient has certain risk factors, such as bowel surgery or disorders caused by bacteria from the colon or mouth that appear in the small intestine, fermenting certain foods, causing swelling and changes in stomach movements.

These tests are of two types. One of them is carried out through endoscopy and aspiration of fluid into the duodenum, but this is more expensive and difficult, so it is not common.

Commonly used breath testwhich consists of “a person takes a little bit of a certain sugar that we think will react, it could be lactulose, lactose, fructose, there could be several of them, and we measure the gases in the breath over the next three hours.” , especially CO2, hydrogen and methane. Depending on how these gases move, we can interpret whether this proposal is mostly positive or negative.”

In addition to the stationary device, the hospital also has kits for taking tests at home.

They can be made in two formats. The hospital has fixed machine capable of running 15 tests simultaneously; and tests laptops take home, which consist of boxes with tubes into which the patient blows at certain intervals and closes, and then the air that allows you to duplicate tests which are made using a static machine. Between both formats, more than a hundred tests are conducted per month. They require a strict diet the day before, and many people do not follow it, so the home test loses quality and gives questionable results. Percentage of positive results with bacterial overgrowth exceeds 30% while in case of intolerance it is lower.

Antibiotics or probiotics

If the test is positive, some type of treatment is offered, usually antibiotics, but this may be accompanied by probiotics and other types of supplements that may help: “We do this relatively often. This is the most visible part of the microbiota theme in our everyday reality.”

The fact that the test is positive means that Bacteria from the colon or mouth enter the small intestine. “Sometimes you need to figure out why it’s happening because it’s being interpreted as something that shouldn’t be completely normal, and give it the appropriate treatment.”

In the most serious cases, always in very selected patients, microbiota transplantation, which consists of selecting a fecal donor, cleaning it and, through colonoscopy, irrigating the recipient patient’s intestines with it. This is a procedure that It is carried out only in the province at the General Hospital of Alicante.