title: Long-term administration of probiotics to asymptomatic pre-school children for either the eradication or the prevention of Helicobacter pylori infection.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The role of probiotics in the armamentarium remains to be defined. The aims of this study were to investigate whether the long-time administration of Lactobacillus gasseri OLL2716 (LG21) strain can eradicate H. pylori in asymptomatic pre-school children and/or prevent H. pylori infection.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 440 children, from 5-7 years of age, attending a kindergarten in Thailand were screened by the Helicobacter pylori stool antigen (HpSA) test. Thereafter 132 H. pylori positive and 308 H. pylori negative children were recruited to eradication and randomized prevention arms, respectively. Children in the active and placebo treatment groups received Lactobacillus gasseri OLL2716 (LG21) containing cheese and ordinary cheese, respectively, for 12 months. Eradication was defined as reversion by HpSA at 12 months. Prevention was defined as persistently HpSA negative at 12 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty-two of 132 H. pylori positive (62%) completed the eradication arm, of which 24 (29.3%) were negative at 12 months according to the HpSA test. In the randomized prevention arm, 123 of 156 (79%) and 99 of 122 (81%) completed active and placebo arms, respectively, of which 4.1% and 8.1%, respectively, were HpSA positive at 12 months based on a per-protocol analysis (p = .21).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Further trials are needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Chiangmai University, Chiangmai, Thailand.
authors.forename: Surasak
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Boonyaritichaikij
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kuwabara
authors.forename: June
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nagano
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Koga
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D010919:Placebos / Q000008:administration & dosage; D019936:Probiotics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013785:Thailand
chemical_list: D010919:Placebos