title: Lactobacillus bacteremia during a rapid increase in probiotic use of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG in Finland.
abstract: Lactobacilli supposedly have low pathogenicity; they are seldom detected in blood culture. Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, which originates indigenously in the human intestine, became available for use as a probiotic in 1990 in Finland. We evaluated the possible effects of the increased probiotic use of L. rhamnosus GG on the occurrence of bacteremia due to lactobacilli. Lactobacilli were isolated in 0.02% of all blood cultures and 0.2% of all blood cultures with positive results in Helsinki University Central Hospital and in Finland as a whole, and no trends were seen that suggested an increase in Lactobacillus bacteremia. The average incidence was 0.3 cases/100,000 inhabitants/year in 1995-2000 in Finland. Identification to the species level was done for 66 cases of Lactobacillus bacteremia, and 48 isolates were confirmed to be Lactobacillus strains. Twenty-six of these strains were L. rhamnosus, and 11 isolates were identical to L. rhamnosus GG. The results indicate that increased probiotic use of L. rhamnosus GG has not led to an increase in Lactobacillus bacteremia.
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Helsinki University Central Hospital, FIN-00029 HUS, Finland. minna.salminen@hus.fi
authors.forename: Minna K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Salminen
authors.forename: Soile
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tynkkynen
authors.forename: Hilpi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rautelin
authors.forename: Maija
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saxelin
authors.forename: Martti
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vaara
authors.forename: Petri
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ruutu
authors.forename: Seppo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sarna
authors.forename: Ville
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Valtonen
authors.forename: Asko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Järvinen
mesh_terms: D016470:Bacteremia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D019936:Probiotics / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology*