Although the following represent absolute or relative
contraindications to FMT, it is critically important to give
primary consideration to the severity of the patient’s illness.
Mutual agreement to proceed with FMT between donor and
recipient might trump the risk of transmitting an infectious
disease if a risk-free alternative donor cannot be found in a
timely fashion, or the condition of the potential recipient is so
precarious that time is a critical factor in predicting mortality
from CDI. At the same time, the physician performing FMT has
to assume responsibility to independently evaluate the donor
for potential risk and does not need to abide by recipient-donor
agreement if the risk is believed to be unreasonably high. The
primary purpose of questioning the donor is to ensure that the
donor is in good health, the donation process is safe for the donor,
and that any risk factors for diseases transmissible by stool can be
identified. The donor interview is especially important to identify
risks for diseases and conditions for which there are no
laboratory tests, for which tests are not sensitive enough to
detect infectious disease agents, and for which tests are unable
to identify early-stage or window-period infections.