Lactobacillus casei strain GG in the treatment of infants with acute watery diarrhea: a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled clinical trial [ISRCTN67363048].

Background: Adjuvant therapy to ORT with probiotic bacteria for infants with acute watery diarrhea has been under active investigation. Most studies have been done in the developed world showing benefit only for viral mild gastroenteritis. We evaluated the effect of a milk formula containing one billion (109) cfu/ml of Lactobacillus casei strain GG (LGG) upon duration and severity of diarrhea in infants in an environment with more severe acute diarrhea, where etiologic agents other than rotavirus are involved more frequently, and where mixed infections are more prevalent.

[The development of a clinical scale for the diagnosis of cholera in infants with acute watery diarrhea].

The diagnosis of cholera in infants based on clinical grounds is often difficult because other enteropathogens such as rotavirus or enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) can produced a very similar clinical picture. We studied 147 infants admitted consecutively to the Rehydration Unit of Cayetano Heredia Hospital in Lima, Perú, trying to identified those characteristics significantly associated with the isolation of Vibrio cholerae 01 on the admission stool culture. After a univariate comparison of cases and controls were selected those characteristics that showed a significantly different distribution.