Efficacy ofBacillus clausiispores in the prevention of recurrent respiratory infections in children: a pilot study

Abstract

Abstract:Probiotic milk has been previously demonstrated to reduce the number of respiratory infections (RI) among children attending day care centres. Thus, this pilot study was aimed to assess the efficacy and the safety of 3 month treatment with Bacillus clausii in the prevention of recurrent respiratory infections (RRI) in children. Eighty children with RRI were studied: 40 of them were randomly treated with B. clausii for 3 months, and followed up for further 3 months; 40 were included in the control group during the same period. Children treated with B. clausii had shorter duration of RI in comparison with the control group both during the treatment phase (mean 11.7 days vs 14.37; p=0.037) and the follow-up period (mean 6.6 days vs 10.92; p=0.049). This effect was evident also in allergic children during the follow-up. In conclusion, this pilot study provides the first preliminary evidence that B. clausii may exert a significant and persistent impact on RI in children and is safe and well tolerated.

Sulphurous water inhalations in the prophylaxis of recurrent upper respiratory tract infections

“…The diagnosis of infection was made when at least 2 symptoms or fever (axillary temperature !38 8C), in addition to one other symptom, were present for at least 48 h. The symptoms taken into consideration for diagnostic purposes were: mucopurulent rhinorrhea, stuffy or dripping nose or both, headache, facial pain, sore-throat, cough (dry or productive), otalgia (earache), fever, dyspnoea, and mucopurulent secretion [6].…”

Multistrain Probiotics

“…One of the many functions for normal microbiota is the ability to resist infection by pathogenic organisms, termed "colonization resistance" (McFarland, 2000;Sanders, 2011). Disruption of the normal microbiota has been shown to lead to higher rates of infections in other body systems other than the intestinal tract, including the skin (Nylund et al, 2013;Prince et al, 2012), vagina (Vitali et al, 2012;Nugent et al, 1991), respiratory tract (Ciprandi et al, 2005;Marseglia et al, 2007), and in the buccal cavity (Iniesta et al, 2012;Shah et al, 2013;Teughels et al, 2013). Disruption of the normal microbiota has been shown to lead to higher rates of infections in other body systems other than the intestinal tract, including the skin (Nylund et al, 2013;Prince et al, 2012), vagina (Vitali et al, 2012;Nugent et al, 1991), respiratory tract (Ciprandi et al, 2005;Marseglia et al, 2007), and in the buccal cavity (Iniesta et al, 2012;Shah et al, 2013;Teughels et al, 2013).…”

Probiotics and health: An evidence-based review

“…Children also represent a main target of studies that investigate the effects of probiotics on human health, because of the importance of limiting the spread of diseases especially during wintertime, reducing missed days at school, and decreasing the need of antibiotics [43][44][45].…”