Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Bacillus Gaertner is a homeopathic remedy. It is a single drug (Homeopathy), not a blend. Its Latin name is Salmonella enteritidis variety Gaertner (bowel nosode), and it is also known as Gaertner bowel nosode.
It starts from a gut germ. The germ is then diluted again and again. At 30C, no source material is left in the pill.
Homeopaths give it for long-term gut, skin and appetite complaints. Trials do not tell it apart from placebo (a dummy pill). Long use inside one tradition is not proof that a remedy works.
No one has shown how this remedy could work in the body.
Homeopathy teaches that a remedy gets stronger as it is diluted. Most scientists do not accept that idea. It does not match what we know about chemistry.
The germ is mixed with water or alcohol. The mix is shaken and diluted many times over. By 30C, not one molecule of the germ is likely to remain.
So the pill has no known action on your gut or skin. Homeopaths say it acts as a signal, not as a drug. That claim has not held up in trials.
It comes as small round pills or soft pillules that melt under the tongue. It also comes as liquid drops in a water and alcohol base. Some homeopaths use it as a single powder dose.
Common strengths are 30C and 200C. Higher strengths mean more dilution, not more material. Bowel nosodes are usually sold through homeopathic pharmacies rather than high street shops.
Bowel nosodes come from British homeopathy in the 1920s and 1930s. Edward Bach began the work. John Paterson, a doctor in Glasgow, carried it on and named the group.
The remedy is named after August Gaertner, who described the germ in 1888. Homeopaths have used it since Paterson's day. Its standing sits inside one tradition only.
See a doctor within a day if you have a fever with diarrhoea, blood in your stool, or belly pain that keeps getting worse. Get help the same day for a baby or an older adult with vomiting or diarrhoea, since they dry out quickly.
Go to an emergency department if someone cannot keep fluids down, is drowsy or confused, or is passing almost no urine.
Book a normal appointment if your bowel habits have changed for more than a few weeks, if you are losing weight without trying, or if a child is not growing well.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
Reviewed by the HealisticMD editorial team How we grade evidence →
The published evidence for Bacillus Gaertner is weak or absent. That usually means no controlled trial has tested it, not that a trial found it ineffective — the two are different, and we grade only what has been published.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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