Probiotic Saccharomyces Boulardii for the Prevention of Antibiotic-associated Diarrhoea

Overview

When patients in hospitals receive antibiotics they often develop diarrhoea. The consequences may be grave for the patient. Thus far, no preventive measure is available. The investigators hypothesize that the apathogenic yeast Saccharomyces boulardii, administered in addition to the antibiotic, may prevent episodes of diarrhoea or may lead to less pronounced diarrhoea. To test this hypothesis, the investigators are carrying out a clinical trial in 1520 adult patients in several hospitals.

Antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (AAD) is a frequent condition in hospitalised patients receiving antibiotic treatment. The same is true for Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea (CDAD) with even more grave consequences of increased morbidity and mortality. The development and evaluation of preventive strategies is one key public health challenge. In the absence of clinically evaluated alternatives, probiotics have been suggested to be beneficial for the prevention of AAD and CDAD. However, data have so far been inconclusive and recently published meta-analyses strongly recommended large state-of-the-art clinical trials on probiotic substances for the prevention of AAD and CDAD. Since the efficacy, side-effects and modes of action of different probiotic bacteria and yeast are strain specific, benefits and risks cannot be generalised. The non-pathogenic yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii (Sac. boulardii) is considered the most promising probiotic substance for the prevention of AAD and CDAD. We carry out a randomised, placebo controlled, double blind multicentre clinical trial to evaluate Sac. boulardii for the indication of prevention of AAD and CDAD in 1520 adult, hospitalised patients.