In the study, the team alleviated chronic pain in mice engineered to have sickle cell disease by transplanting bacteria from the feces of healthy mice into the digestive tract of the sickle cell animals. “Our results are strong evidence that the contents of the microbiome in individuals with sickle cell might drive chronic pain,” Sadler said. For reasons that are unclear, at least 50% of individuals with sickle cell disease also experience chronic pain. “We identified Akkermansia because it makes short chain fatty acids, which appear crucial for alleviating sickle cell pain,” Sadler said. “Chronic sickle cell disease pain has a profound negative impact on the quality of life of individuals living with the disease,” Brandow said.