Abstract
Viral infections represent a major health problem worldwide. Due to the wide variety of etiological agents and their increasing resistance to anti-virals and antibiotics treatments, new strategies for effective therapies need to be developed. Scientific evidence suggests that probiotics may have prophylactic and therapeutic effects in viral diseases. Indeed, these microorganisms interact harmoniously with the intestinal microbiota and protect the integrity of the intestinal barrier as well as modulate the host immune system. Currently, clinical trials with probiotics have been documented in respiratory tract infections, infections caused by human immunodeficiency viruses, herpes, human papillomavirus and hepatic encephalopathy. However, the benefits documented so far are difficult to extrapolate, due to the strain-dependent effect. In addition, the dose of the microorganism used as well as host characteristics are other parameters that should be consider when advocating the use of probiotics to treat viral infections. This review addresses the scientific evidence of the efficacy of probiotics in clinical strains perspective in viral infectious diseases in the last 10 years.
Highlights
The risk of infections caused by viruses has increased dramatically worldwide [1]
We found in the literature that probiotics have a greater beneficial effect on diseases caused by influenza virus compared to rhinovirus, rotavirus and enterovirus [52], while no positive effects have been reported in otitis media infection (Table 1)
Calculating the percentage of each clinical trial for each viral disease, and considering as 100% the total of selected studies, we found that Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) showed the highest percentage of studies (40%), followed by Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections (25%), and gastrointestinal infections (20%) and Hepatic Encephalopathy (HE) and Herpes Simplex-2 (HSV-2) infections, which showed 5%
Summary
The risk of infections caused by viruses has increased dramatically worldwide [1]. This is mainly due to climate change, global warming and the geographical movement of people and goods [2]. The basis of current therapies to treat these infections are based on antiviral drugs and/or vaccines, which may contribute to the high mutation rates of viruses [3]. In this context, the use of non-pathogenic and beneficial bacteria (i.e., probiotics) represents an attractive alternative to explore new therapies against viral infections [4].
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