Everyone is familiar with calls to donate blood, sperm¹, stem cells, bone marrow² and organs, but the opening of a new 'poo bank' in the Netherlands means it is now possible to donate your faeces.

献血、捐精、捐献干细胞、捐骨髓、器官捐赠……这些你可能都听说过，不过最近荷兰新开了一家“便便银行”，这意味着上面的各种捐赠中又要多一项：捐便。

The "poo bank", more formally referred to as the Dutch Donor³ Faeces Bank (NDFB), opened recently at the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC).

“便便银行”还有个更官方的名字——“荷兰粪便捐赠库”。这家银行近日在荷兰雷登大学医疗中心（LUMC）开业。

The faeces deposited at the NDFB is invaluable⁴ for those living with Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) — a bacterial⁵ infection which can affect the digestive system. In the Netherlands there are 3,000 reported C. difficile cases a year, usually occurring after using antibiotics⁶ to treat other illnesses.

对于梭状芽胞杆菌（一种影响消化系统的病菌）携带者来说，“便便银行”的存在非常重要。荷兰每年新增3000例这种病患，这种感染通常发生于使用了抗生素治疗其他疾病之后。

Although the infection often results in few symptoms, in approximately five per cent of patients it can recur⁷ as a regular infection. Symptoms for them include three to five bouts⁸ a day of usually foul-smelling, watery⁹ diarrhoea, sometimes blood-stained, accompanied by abdominal¹⁰ cramping¹¹ and pain.

虽然这种感染没有什么特别症状，但大约有5%的病患会出现反复感染。反复感染的病患每天会呈现三到五次的病状，比如便恶臭、水样便等，有时还会便血，并伴有腹部绞痛。

For such unfortunate sufferers faecal transplants are the only effective treatment.

对于这些不幸的病患，便移植就成为唯一有效的治疗手段。

Ed Kuijper, a professor at the LUMC explained:

雷登大学医疗中心教授库吉柏解释道：

"The effectiveness of faecal transplants in patients with a Clostridium difficile infection was proven in 2013. Since then, the treatment has been included in national and international guidelines."

“便移植对梭状芽胞杆菌携带者治疗的有效性已于2013年得到证实。从那时起，这种治疗手段便被本国和国际医疗机构采纳。”

The LUMC also provides training for those doctors who will carry out faecal transplants, of which there are said to be three or four every month in the Netherlands, although that number is increasing rapidly.

雷登大学医疗中心也在对医生进行便移植培训。荷兰每月约有三到四例这种手术，而且数量还在迅速增加。

Calling for healthy donors¹² living near Leiden to offer their deposits to the ‘poo bank’, Professor Kuijper conceded the practice is “not established yet, like giving blood is” adding:

库吉柏教授号召住在雷登附近的健康居民积极“捐便”，但他也承认，这种捐赠“就像献血一样，尚未形成风气”。

"I think it’s a matter of getting used to it."

他同时补充道：“我觉得这只是习惯问题。”

你知道吗？

不同于去年已开设两间同类银行的美国，荷兰的便便捐赠者是没有酬劳的，捐赠者保持匿名。