Probiotics In Hospitals - Standard Procedure?

The Annals of Internal Medicine recently released an article regarding the use of prophylactic probiotics in patients with C. Diff-associated diarrhea. It found that "patients at risk of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea had a 66% lower infection rate when they received prophylactic probiotics. Treatment with multispecies probiotics products was associated with a 75% reduction in the risk of C. difficile diarrhea, whereas single-species products reduced the risk by 50%. Serious adverse events were uncommon in patients who received probiotics."

Antibiotics have a recognized potential to disrupt gastrointestinal flora and predispose patients to opportunistic infections of the gastrointestinal tract. C. difficile is the pathogenic culprit that most often takes advantage of the breakdown in colonization resistance resulting from antibiotic treatment. The spectrum of C. difficile-related disease ranges from asymptomatic colonization to potentially fatal infection.

In developed countries, C. difficile is the leading cause of hospital-acquired infectious diarrheal disease. The typical patient is an older, hospitalized individual treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics. Since early in the previous decade, the frequency and severity of C. difficile-associated diarrhea have increased dramatically, including almost a twofold increase in the case fatality rate in the U.S., according to the background information.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/GeneralInfectiousDisease/35974