Use of Probiotic for the Treatment of Acute Rotavirus Diarrhea in Children: a Randomized Single-Blind Controlled Trial

Background and Objective: Despite consistent evidence that probiotics reduce the duration of diarrhea, there is only weak evidence for their efficacy in reducing the duration of hospitalization. Another source of heteroge-neity for probiotic trials is the type of probiotic being assessed; also, information about combined products is scarce. Methods: This is a randomized, single-blind controlled clinical trial performed in children hospitalized with acute rotavirus diarrhea carried out at a university hospital in Tehran, Iran. Children were randomly assigned to receive rehydration therapy or the same plus a multi-strain probiotic preparation. The primary outcome was the duration of hospitalization.. Findings: A total of 60 patients with acute diarrhea secondary to rotavirus infection were included; baseline characteristics were similar in both groups. A statistically significant difference in the duration of hospitalization was observed (p <0.001) in children receiving probiotic (5.07 &plusmn; 1.30) in comparison to the control group (8.22 &plusmn; 2.14). Conclusion: Results of this study support the use of multi-strain preparation probiotics in treating rotavirus acute diarrhea.