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I want to know how can one sterilize their intestine (both small/large) and what are the consequences.

Carey Gregory
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Themobisback
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    sterilize:

    make (something) free from bacteria or other living microorganisms.

     – Themobisback Feb 14 '18 at 20:07
  • Antibiotics: against life – Graham Chiu Feb 14 '18 at 21:13
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    I'm wondering why anyone would want to subject their body to this. – BillDOe Feb 14 '18 at 21:28
  • I edited your question in order to narrow it to a single question. Feel free to ask the others you had as new questions. – Carey Gregory Feb 15 '18 at 05:22
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    Without knowing WHY someone would want to sterilize his intestine this question cannot be answered properly. – Jan Feb 15 '18 at 07:36
  • @Jan - Of course it can. You can know the how, without needing to know the why. – JohnP Feb 15 '18 at 14:22
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    Sounds like an absolutely terrible idea, however. I can't think of many legitimate possible clinical applications of this, and you open the door for rampant opportunistic infections of resistant bacteria, fungus, or newly encountered pathogens without the normal happy balance of gut flora to outcompete. Also, sterilization isn't biologically possible 100%, there will likely be residual pockets of bacteria, and maybe some resistant strands created in the attempt. – DoctorWhom Feb 15 '18 at 23:23
  • I would not call any process "safe." Perhaps unless undertaken by a medical professional as a means to an end. – DoctorWhom Feb 16 '18 at 01:07

2 Answers2

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It isn't possible to completely sterilize the gut of a living person. Repeat: not possible under any circumstance in a living person.

You can dramatically decrease the number of organisms by using high-dose antibiotics and flushing out the gut copiously, and by copiously, I mean your intake plus an osmotic agent is so high that you have explosive diarrhea that looks like pure water. (It's not.)

Even with all this, swabbing will reveal plenty of CFU's (colony forming units) from what appears to be a perfectly pristine gut.

Drinking several gallons of household bleach would give you even less desirable results, not to mention it would kill you.

That's not to say there aren't any animals with perfectly microbe-free intestines. There are germ-free mice, rats, and possibly a few other animals by now. Obtaining them is difficult: they must be harvested by sacrificing a pregnant female, and under the most stringent sterile conditions, removing fetuses from the uterus, and growing the offspring in a sterile environment, feeding them sterile food (obviously processed), etc. Allow these animals to reproduce, and the result is- eventually- germ-free colonies.

The cost is phenomenal. If it were possible to sterilize mice guts more easily, it would have been done.

Germ Free Mice

anongoodnurse
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    Great answer except I think your first paragraph needs a supporting reference. – Carey Gregory Feb 16 '18 at 02:12
  • @CareyGregory - And which human study would that be? – anongoodnurse Feb 16 '18 at 03:44
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    Not my answer. Tell us how you know this. – Carey Gregory Feb 16 '18 at 04:57
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    Easiest way to sterilize the gut is to give birth to a baby ... Gut is sterile at birth. – Graham Chiu Feb 16 '18 at 12:32
  • @GrahamChiu - The human gut may not be at birth. Look at the literature. – anongoodnurse Feb 16 '18 at 15:55
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    @CareyGregory - There is no such study. Surgeons preparing the gut for surgery are the most concerned with the possibility of abdominal infection on opening the intestines in vivo. The studies assess various methods for which is superior and which is dangerous, etc. Not for which is 100% effective. – anongoodnurse Feb 16 '18 at 16:03
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    That first paragraph seems so obvious on the face of it that I'm not sure it really needs references. But then I guess it depends on what you mean by "sterilize." If you mean 100% free of foreign microbes, then I don't see the need for references. If you mean, say, 99.90% fewer microbes than before treatment, then maybe references are in order. – BillDOe Feb 16 '18 at 20:01
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    Gut sterilization is commonly talked about by surgeons. But perhaps it should really mean pasteurization. – Graham Chiu Feb 16 '18 at 22:23
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    @anon as the answerer the onus is on you to provide the links. Otherwise I'd bother to answer the question myself. – Graham Chiu Feb 16 '18 at 22:26
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Note: the following answer has been completely rewritten.

There are a large number of microbes in the intestines, their presence is essential for being able to digest food properly. The lining of the intestines contains living cells, so any method that completely sterilizes the gut will also do severe damage to the gut. Sterilizing the skin, in contrast, is a different matter, in that case far UV-C light can kill microbes without doing damage because far UV-C light doesn't penetrate the skin deep enough to affect living cells.

This means that the only safe way to do this (involving aggressive chemicals, radiation or whatever other means) is to make sure the patient will survive with damaged intestines, and that requires putting the patient on total parenteral nutrition.

Count Iblis
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