title: Antibiotics and probiotics in treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.
abstract: Many experimental and clinical observations suggest that intestinal microflora plays a potential role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Manipulation of the luminal content using antibiotics or probiotics represents a potentially effective therapeutic option. The available studies do not support the use of antibiotics in ulcerative colitis (UC). Antibiotics are effective in treating septic complications of Crohn's disease (CD) but their use as a primary therapy is more controversial, although this approach is frequently and successfully adopted in clinical practice. There is evidence that probiotic therapy may be effective in the prevention and treatment of mild to moderate UC. In contrast, a lack of successful study data at present precludes the widespread use of probiotics in the treatment of CD. Both antibiotics and probiotics appear to play a beneficial role in the treatment and prevention of pouchitis and further trials are warranted to fully quantify their clinical efficacy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Bologna, Italy. paolo@med.unibo.it
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gionchetti
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rizzello
authors.forename: Karen-M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Lammers
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Morselli
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sollazzi
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: Rosy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tambasco
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Calabrese
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Campieri
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology; D051379:Mice; D019449:Pouchitis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology; D019936:Probiotics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents