Recovery of a Probiotic Organism from Human Faeces after Oral Dosing

Abstract

Probiotics have been used therapeutically and prophylactically in bacterial and fungal diseases of humans for a considerable portion of human history. Particularly targeted have been diarrhoea and other manifestations of GI infection (Clements et al. 1981; Clements et al. 1983; Steffen et al. 1986; Salminen et al. 1988), oral disease (Perrons and Donoghue 1990) and genitourinary (GU) infection (Will 1979; Sandler 1979; Bruce and Reid 1988; Nagy et al. 1991). Probiotics have also been reported to reduce cholesterol levels (Mann and Spoerry 1974; Thompson et al. 1982; Jaspers et al. 1984), prevent hepatic encephalopathy (Loguercio et al. 1987) and degrade carcinogens in the gut (Goldin et al. 1980; Cole et al. 1989). Results from these studies, however, tend to be contradictory and inconclusive (Pozo-Olano et al. 1978; Turnbull et al. 1978; Clements et al. 1981; Clements et al. 1983; Reuman et al. 1986). This uncertainty may be due to the use of preparations containing non-viable organisms, the use of microbes from a non-human source, the use of organisms which do not have the properties requisite to function as a probiotic, or to the design of the study. Horikawa (1986) demonstrated in mice that both infected and sterile burn wounds healed significantly faster when an ointment containing a heat killed strain of Lactobacillus casei was applied to the affected area and lactobacilli have been used to produce vaccines against unrelated organisms (Gombosova et al. 1986).