Probiotics in the Treatment of Acute Diarrhea in Young Children

Background: Well-controlled clinical studies in the developedworld have shown that probiotics can shorten the duration ofacute non-bacterial diarrhea. We aimed to evaluate the efficacyof a probiotic consisting of a mixture of Lactobacillus acidophilusand Bifidobacterium bifidum in the treatment of young childrenwith acute diarrhea in Mashad, IranMethods: Sixty-two hospital inpatients aged 6 to 36 monthswith acute non-bloody, non-bacterial diarrhea of a less than 2days' duration and moderate dehydration were enrolled.Thirty-two were treated with probiotic powder three timesdaily for 5 days plus the routine oral rehydration solution(study group) and the other 30 were given a placebo plus oralrehydration solution (control group).Results: Mean age at the time of admission was 14.5±7months for the study group and 13.7±6 months for controls.The mean duration of diarrhea was 3.4 days in the study groupand 4.5 days in controls (P = 0.027). Duration of hospital admissionwas 2.1±0.7 days in the probiotic group comparedwith 2.7±0.6 days in the control group (P = 0.033). Averageweight gain was 425 ± 9 and 370 ± 85 g for the study and controlgroups, respectively. Average reduction in the frequencyof diarrhea per day was 4.4 ± 1.5 times for the study groupand 3.6 ± 1.3 times for the control group.Conclusion: Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacteriumbifidum shortened the duration of diarrhea and hospital stay,and normalized stool frequency. The use of probiotics mightbe recommended for treating acute diarrhea in young children