Mutaflor is also known a Escherichia Coli Nissle 1917. 1917 being the year of discovery. It has been in production for over a century.

EcN 1917 (O6:K5:H1) was isolated by Prof. Alfred Nissle from Freiburg, Germany, in 1917 from the intestinal microflora of a young soldier. This soldier – unlike his comrades – did not develop infectious diarrhea, when stationed during World War I in Southeastern Europe (Dobrudja/Balkan peninsula), endemic for Shigella at that time. The strain was named E. coli strain Nissle 1917.

Using this E. coli strain Prof. Nissle developed the probiotic drug Mutaflor^® and introduced it into medical practice in the same year. Since 1917, Mutaflor^® is available in the German pharmaceutical market without interruption and recently also in Italy as EcN (cadigroup).

Role and mechanisms of action of Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 in the maintenance of remission in ulcerative colitis patients: An update – 2016

It gets a full FOUR+ thumbs up:

• Strain is named
• Human sourced – Country of origin is Germany
• Have been shown to persist in at least 10% of patients
• Extremely well studied. I have listed a few articles from the US National Library of Medicine below…

A few Studies

• Insights from 100 Years of Research with Probiotic E. Coli. – 2016
• Role and mechanisms of action of Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 in the maintenance of remission in ulcerative colitis patients: An update. – 2016
• The probiotic Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 inhibits propagating colonic contractions in the rat isolated large intestine. – 2015
• Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (Mutaflor): new insights into an old probiotic bacterium. – 2011
• In vitro analysis of the bactericidal activity of Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 against pediatric uropathogens. – 2011
• [Treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with Escherichia coli strain Nissle 1917 (EcN): a retrospective survey]. – 2007
• Are probiotics detectable in human feces after oral uptake by healthy volunteers? – 2007