Saccharomyces boulardii w profilaktyce biegunki związanej z antybiotykoterapią – doświadczenia własne

Abstract

IntroductionSaccharomyces boulardii has documented clinical activity in the prevention and treatment of diarrhea associated with antibiotic therapy in children and adults. AimThe aim of the study was to evaluate the incidence of loose stools and/or increased their number in patients who received S. boulardii during antibiotic therapy and comparison with results of other published studies on this topic. Patients and methodsObservational data were evaluated from 130 patients aged 3 mth.–17.5 years who received S. boulardii (250–500 mg per day) during antibiotic therapy. The occurrence of loose stools and/or increased their numbers per day, which occurred de novo in the course of antibiotic therapy was analyzed. Antibiotic therapy was used in patients with upper and lower respiratory tract inflammation – the group I (n=83) and during Helicobacter pylori eradication – the group II (n=47). In group I, there were 18 infants and 65 children over 12 months. The most commonly used antibiotics for patients with respiratory tract infection (group I) were: amoxicillin with clavulanic acid (n=39) and cefuroxime (n=21). In the eradication of Helicobacter pylori amoxicillin and metronidazole were used – group II. ResultsLoose stools and/or increased their number on any day of observation occurred in 18 patients of group I (21.68%) and 6 patients in group II (12.76%), but only in 11.5% of the whole analyzed group symptoms occurred 48 hours or longer, 14.46% in group I and 6.38% in group II. The total number of days with problems in each group was: group I – 43 of 757 (5.68%), group II – 10 of 470 (2.12%). Only in 4 (3.07%) patients symptoms occurred for longer than three days. Average number of days with symptoms was: 2.38 days in the group I, 1.8 days – in group II. More often, symptoms lasting 48 hours or more was observed in treated with cefuroxime – 19.05% (n=7), than in patients treated with amoxicillin with clavulanic acid – 7.69% (n=3). In the group I loose stools and/or increased their number occurring for 48 hours or longer were more frequent in infants (27.78%) compared to children aged above 12 months of life (10.77%). There was no patient in whom antibiotic therapy was discontinued because of occurrence of loose stools and/or increase their numbers. ConclusionSaccharomyces boulardii is effective in preventing diarrhea associated with antibiotic therapy.