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The Effect of a Yeast Probiotic on Acute Diarrhea in Children

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Abstract

A probiotic is a living micro-organism administered to promote the health of the host by treating or preventing infections owing to strains of pathogens. Saccharomyces boulardii is a nonpathogen yeast that has a direct inhibitory effect on the growth of many pathogens, an anti-secretory effect and a trophic effect on enterocytes. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of S. boulardii on diarrhea in children. The children from 6 months to 6 years of age with acute watery diarrhea admitted in pediatric clinic in Kashan in 2012 were included in this trial. Exclusion criteria were high fever (T > 38.5 °C), severe dehydration, bloody diarrhea, severe malnutrition, using of antibiotics, anti-diarrheal or antifungal drugs and children with more than one complain. Two hundred patients were assigned into two groups: A total of 100 patients were treated with S. boulardii in addition to ORS (case group) and 100 patients were given placebo in addition to ORS (control group). The duration of diarrhea and frequency of stools were recorded by asking the mothers of the children every day. The results showed that the defecation frequency after second day of treatment in the case group was significantly less than the control group (P = 0.001) and the mean numbers of days of diarrhea was significantly lower in the case group (P = 0.001). The result of this study confirms that S. boulardii reduces the frequency of stool and duration of illness in children.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the nurses of Kashan pediatric clinic that have worked in this study with us.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Infectious Diseases Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

    Mohammad Reza Sharif, Abbas Taghavi Ardakani, Davood Kheirkhah & Alireza Sharif

  2. Anatomical Sciences Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

    Hamed Haddad Kashani

  3. Endocrine and Metabolism Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Fatemeh Tabatabaei

Authors
  1. Mohammad Reza Sharif
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  2. Hamed Haddad Kashani
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  3. Abbas Taghavi Ardakani
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  4. Davood Kheirkhah
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  5. Fatemeh Tabatabaei
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  6. Alireza Sharif
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alireza Sharif.

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The authors declared that they have no competing interests.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments.

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Sharif, M.R., Kashani, H.H., Ardakani, A.T. et al. The Effect of a Yeast Probiotic on Acute Diarrhea in Children. Probiotics & Antimicro. Prot. 8, 211–214 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12602-016-9221-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12602-016-9221-2

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