Adjudicative Efficacy of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BLa80 for Acute Diarrhea in Children
The goal of this study is to assess the efficacy and safety of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BLa80, as an adjunct to diarrhea in children with a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study design. Eligible diarrheal children, aged 0-3 years old and diagnosed with non- bacterial infectious diarrhea, were randomized into intervention group (IG, n=58, with probiotic) and control group (CG, n=53, placebo). The primary assessment was duration of diarrhea. Fecal samples were collected to measure levels of bimchemical index, analyze the gut microbiome composition and predict gene family abundances. The total duration of diarrhea in IG was significantly shorter than that in CG. More children in IG showed improvements in diarrhea than those in CG for both per protocol analysis and intention-to-treat analysis The cathe licidin levels in IG was markedly higher than that in CG after the intervention . The intervention led to higher abundance of species Bifidobacterium breve and Collinsella aerofaciens and higher alpha-diversity (p<0.05) and to enriched the functional genes of gut microbiota involving immunity regulation. Administration of BLa80 resulted in shorter duration of diarrhea and variations in gut microbiome composition and gene functions.