Abstract
Objective: To investigate the possibility of isolating indigenous probiotic strains from faecal specimens of breastfed infants. Method: One hundred and sixty four Lactobacillus strains [ Lb . reuteri 72 (43.9%), Lb . casei 40 (24.4%), Lb . acidophilus 35 (21.3%), Lb . bifidus 11 (6.71 %), Lb . brevis 3 (1.83 %) and Lb . plantarum 3 (1.83 %] isolated from fresh, faecal specimens of 57 healthy, breastfed Nigerian infants and children in vitro inhibitory potentials against reference and gastroenteritic bacterial strains, using the modified agar spot and agar well-diffusion methods. Results: Twenty six (15.9%) of the Lactobacillus strains at 24 hours and 36 months of storage were inhibitory in vitro towards all the gastroenteritic and reference bacteria ( Bacillus cereus , Bacillus licheniformis , Citrobacter species , Enterobacter aerogenes , Escherichia coli , Klebsiella aerogenes , Klebsiella pneumoniae , Morganella morganii , Proteus mirabilis , Proteus vulgaris , Pseudomonas aeruginosa . Salmonella enterica var. typhi, Salm onella enterica var. paratyphi, Salmonella enterica var. typhimurium, Salmonella sp. , Shigella dysenteriae , Shigella flexneri , S taphylococcus aureus and Yersinia enterocolitica ); while only 7 (4.3%) strains were inhibitory at 60 months of storage. The finally selected Lb . reuteri CH1 strain, which was inhibitory against all the indicator and reference bacteria, even at 60 months of storage, also had the lowest antibiotic resistance (23.3%), survived 3% bile and simulated pH conditions of 3.0-9.5. Conclusions: Potential gastroenteriticidal Lactobacillus probiotic strains with longer shelf-life can be obtained from breastfed faecal specimens of Nigerian infants, more especially children above 5 months old. (Keywords: Breastfeeding; child health; gastroenteritis; infant mortality; Lactobacillus ; probiotics) Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health, 2011; 40 (3): 116-124 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sljch.v40i3.3509 (This DOI was corrected on 4/11/2011 so please use this version to refer to this article)
Highlights
Gastroenteritis is still a major worldwide problem among infants and children, and one of the principal causes of infantile sickness and death in more than 85% of the world population[1]
Twenty six (15.9%) of the Lactobacillus strains at 24 hours and 36 months of storage were inhibitory in vitro towards all the gastroenteritic and reference bacteria
Gastroenteritic bacterial species isolated from epidemic patients (7 months - 7 years), hospital inpatients (5 months - 51⁄2 years) and hospital outpatients (9 months - 41⁄2 years) assayed for in this study were Bacillus cereus (4), Bacillus licheniformis (5), Citrobacter sp. (1), Enterobacter aerogenes (2), Escherichia coli (5), Klebsiella aerogenes (3), Klebsiella pneumoniae (5), Morganella morganii (1), Proteus mirabilis (3), Proteus vulgaris (1), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (1), Salmonella enterica var
Summary
Gastroenteritis is still a major worldwide problem among infants and children, and one of the principal causes of infantile sickness and death in more than 85% of the world population[1]. Antibiotic therapy has been the mainstay in the treatment of diarrhoeal cases, the onset of drug resistance threatens virtually all classes of antibacterial agents[2] and though the magnitude of the problem may vary from place to place, the problem of antibiotic resistance is quite alarming in tropical developing countries. Several workers in this country and elsewhere have highlighted the problems of antibiotic resistance[3,4]. It is important that babies are given extra food, as well as breast milk, at the right age and in sufficient amounts, to enable them grow and stay healthy, new studies on breastfeeding have discovered or confirmed the benefits of breastfeeding to mother and child[10], while human milk has been found to contain several antiviral and antibacterial factors[11]
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