From gut to urogenital tract: probiotic-microbes descending and ascending.

The use of probiotics for prevention and/or treatment of gastrointestinal maladies is becoming increasingly more germane within the health care sector than ever before. The commercial and public interest in live microbes taken as food supplements is equally having a paradigm shift for urogenital health benefits. This synopsis is based on a search of the Pubmed data-base for relevant research articles and commentaries on a range of proven gastrointestinal health benefits (infantile diarrhea, inflammatory bowel disease, antibiotic-associated diarrhea and Helicobacter pylori- induced gastritis). In addition, basic and clinical studies with some Lactobacillus strains on the prevention and treatment of urogenital infections such as urinary tract infections and bacterial vaginosis have shown great potential in reducing the burden on wome