Abstract

EFFECT OF PROBIOTICS IN THE PREVENTION OF ANTIBIOTIC ASSOCIATED DIARRHOEA AND CLOSTRIDIUM DIFFICILE INFECTION

N. Uma Maheswari* and S. Abinaya

ABSTRACT

Diarrhoea as a common side effect of antibiotics, causes increased treatment costs and extended length of stay in acute health care facilities. Clostridium difficile as a cause of diarrhea has become a major issue in many countries, resulting in a search for the best way to prevent its occurrence. Prevention primarily revolves around control of antibiotic use, followed by comprehensive infection control procedures once outbreaks occur. C.difficile have become more frequent, more severe, more difficult to treat and more likely to recur after initial treatment. Although most people become infected with C.difficile in the hospital, the infection has also become more common in patients who have not been hospitalized or through community- acquired infection. Cefotaxime, amikacin and ampicillin were mainly responsible for causing AAD. Therefore conservative use of antibiotics would be beneficial to decrease the occurrence of AAD. Hence the present study was planned as C.difficile infected samples were collected from 50 patients, out of fifty, 10 male, 28 female and 12 children. The results of our study were clearly showed that 7 samples are frequently associated with children’s 5-12 years age group. Commercial antibiotics and probiotics were administrated for the control of AAD; Lactobacillus casein was effectively control the diarrhea than antibiotics.

Keywords: C.difficile, Probiotics, antibiotics, diarrhea, Lactobacillus, Vancomycin.