Muhammad Awais, Sadia Alam, Nadia Wali, Rizwan Mehmood, Usman Nasir, Aliya Waheed.
Comparison of the Clinical Efficacy of Bacteria-Based Probiotics to Fungi-Based Probiotics.
J Sharif Med Dent Coll Jan ;7(01):21-4.

Objective: To compare the clinical efficacy of bacteria-based probiotics with fungi-based probiotics for the treatment of acute watery diarrhea in children between 5 months to 5 years of age. Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 150 cases of acute diarrhea admitted in the Paediatrics Department, Akhtar Saeed Trust Hospital, Lahore from May to June 2020. Patients were included by convenient sampling technique and further divided into groups A & B. Group A included 75 patients treated with bacteria-based probiotic i.e. Lactobacillus acidophilus and group B comprised 75 patients treated with fungi-based probiotic, Saccharomyces boulardii. Twelve billion lyophilized heat-killed Lactobacillus acidophilus was given twice a day to group A patients and 250 mg of Saccharomyces boulardii was given twice a day to patients included in group B. The children in each group (A and B) were observed on the 3 day of treatment to see the efficacy. If diarrhea was resolved on day 3 of starting a probiotic, then that particular probiotic was considered as clinical efficient. The efficacy of probiotics used in both groups was compared. Results: The age range of the children included in the study was 5 months to 5 years. In group A, 31(41.33%) and in group B, 27(36%) were in age group 1-2 years. In group A, 24(32%) and 31(41.33%) in group B were between 3-4 years, while 20(26.67%) in group A and 17(22.6%) in group B were 5 years of age. The mean age was 3.22+/-2.53 years in group A and 3.76+/-2.89 years in group B. As for as gender was concerned, 39(52%) in group A and 44(58.67%) in group B were males while 36(48%) in group A and 31(41.33%) in group B were females. Comparison of clinical efficacy in both groups revealed that 43(57.33%) in group A and 21(28%) in group B were effectively treated while the remaining 32(42.67%) in group A and 54(72%) in group B did not show efficacy. A statistically significant difference (p-value=0.0001) was found in the comparison of the efficacy of both groups. Conclusion: Clinical efficacy of bacteria-based probiotics is higher than fungi-based probiotics in the treatment of acute watery diarrhea. Keywords: Acute watery diarrhea. Bacteria-based probiotics. Fungi-based probiotics. Efficacy.

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