In clinical use for over 107 years E.coli Nissle 1917 is a human commensal bacteria, first isolated in 1917 from the faeces of a soldier in World War One who did not succumb to dysentery unlike most of his other comrades in a region that was highly contaminated by enteropathogens.
The name Mutaflor®, deduced from the Latin words mutare and flora to express the capability of the E.coli strain to change the intestinal microbiota by its antagonistic properties and at the time was applied to treat intestinal infections.
Today Mutaflor® manufactured in a modern GMP facility, lyophilized or freeze-dried, a process to remove moisture whilst the strain remains frozen and filled into gelatine capsules that are enteric coated in order that they do not open until the large intestine is reached.
Long before even the advent of antibiotics the Physicians and Microbiologists at that time all understood the role of bacteria in disease but Professor Alfred Nissle had come to recognise that some faecal E.coli isolates showed signs of antagonistic action against pathogens in vitro. It then becomes quite apparent as to why Nissle was only interested in the soldier who was not affected by dysentery.
