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Lactobacillus Safe, Effective For Infectious Diarrhoea In Children
A DGReview of :"Lactobacillus Therapy for Acute Infectious Diarrhea in Children: A Meta-analysis"
Pediatrics Electronic Pages
04/08/2002
By Elda Hauschildt
Lactobacillus therapy appears to be safe and effective in reducing the duration and frequency of infectious diarrhoea in children by as much as two-thirds of a day.
"We also found that Lactobacillus therapy benefited not only cases with documented rotavirus diarrhoea, but also cases of infectious diarrhoea caused by a variety of pathogens, as would be found in ambulatory clinical settings," United States investigators say. Lactobacillus is found in normal human intestinal and perineal flora and its anti-diarrhoeal use in children has been researched since the 1960s.
Researchers from the University of Washington and the Sea Mar Community Health centre in Seattle explain that diarrhoea contributes substantially to paediatric morbidity and mortality worldwide: "In the US, an estimated 21 million to 37 million episodes of diarrhoea occur among 16.5 million children younger than five years of age annually."
Infectious diarrhoea among children also accounts for three million visits to doctors each year and 163,000 hospitalisations, or 13 percent of all hospitalisations.
The investigators conducted a meta-analysis of randomised, blinded, controlled trials in which a treatment group received Lactobacillus and a control group received an adequate placebo. Clinical outcome measures had to report diarrhoea intensity.
Their search of traditional biomedical databases and other literature published between 1966 and 2000 yielded 26 studies; nine met inclusion criteria. "Summary point estimates indicate a reduction in diarrhoea duration of 0.7 days and a reduction in diarrhoea frequency of 1.6 stools on day two of treatment," the researchers say.
They add that a pre-planned sub-analysis suggests a dose-effect relationship in Lactobacillus therapy.
Pediatrics, 2002; 109: 678-684.
"Lactobacillus Therapy for Acute Infectious Diarrhea in Children: A Meta-analysis"
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