A probiotic is a 40 per cent decrease neonatal mortality due to infections

szefei/epictura

Published the 17.08.2017 at 14h08

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Keywords :

probiotiquemortalité infantileprébiotiquesmortalité perinatal

Little remedies also simple have effects as positive. The association of a probiotic – a living organism, a bacterium or yeast, ingested for its beneficial effects on health, and prebiotic sugar – promoting the selective growth of intestinal bacteria – is sufficient to avoid the fatal cases of serious infections in infants, according to the results of a study of the university of Nebraska (Usa) and published in the journal Nature.

The researchers tested an experimental treatment on more than 4 500 new-born babies of the villages in the state of Odisha in India, a region particularly affected by infant mortality. They have used a combination of Lactobacillus plantarum (probiotic), a bacterium that is very common and harmless, which is found in the body, the environment, or cheeses like feta, and fructooligosaccharide (prebiotic), a sugar extracted from plants (such as bananas, onions, agave).

For a tiny dollar

After we have provided treatment to new born babies aged between two and four days, the researchers observed hospital admissions. Among children admitted to a microbial infection, 27 had not received the treatment, compared to just 6 for the other, yet as many. That is, a reduction of 82 % of The respiratory infections were also reduced by over a third.

And the result is far to be trivial on the side of mortality : the case of life-threatening infections have decreased by 40 %, from 9 % in the control group to 5.4 % in babies who received the treatment. A effectiveness dramatic, especially for a treatment a week that does not cost… a mere dollar !