It’s hard to earn money nowadays and people are taking every opportunity to earn that extra moolah. Some people even resort to donating their body organs as well as blood, sperm, and eggs for money. Now, you have the chance to earn $13,000 a year and save lives just by donating your poop.
It may sound disturbing and gross at the same time but people infected with bacteria called Clostridium difficile need healthy fecal matter in their gut. Patients with this infection usually have extreme gastrointestinal distress and have to stay dependent on antibiotics to live a normal life. But by introducing healthy fecal matter via swallowed capsules, endoscopy or nasal tubes, patients can get rid of the C. difficile in their system.
PHOTO CREDIT: Washington Post
Enter Open Biome, a company that facilitates fecal transplants to infected patients. The company is willing to pay $40 per sample plus you get $50 bonus if you come to the facility five days in a week. Take note that you have to make your donations in the facility.
Sounds interesting? Well, you must be healthy enough in order to be considered a poop-donor. Only 4% of willing donors can donate their poop.
Currently, the company has served 2,000 samples to 185 hospitals in the US.
Open Biome: First Stool Bank in the US
Open Biome, an independent nonprofit stool bank founded by Mark Smith of MIT was opened in the US in 2012. The facility gathers, evaluates, and provides fecal samples to several hospitals in the US for fecal transplantation.
Along with graduate students, gastroenterologists, and researchers, Smith sees to it that there are fecal samples available in every town or city. They ensure that the sample is within a two-hour radius for individuals who need it, according to a report by Boston.com.
In order to qualify as a donor to Open Biome, you have to undergo several screenings such as travel history analysis and antibiotics use history. Aside from evaluating the fecal matter, the donor also needs to undergo blood test for hepatitis A, B, C, HIV/AIDS, and syphillis.
Target donors are healthy individuals aged from late 20’s to early 30’s. Most of the donors selected were students from Tufts University.