Treatment of Acute Diarrhoea: Past and Now

Context: Since ancient times diarrhoea has been a highly fatal disease and even today diarrhoea, the topic of this review, is a problem affecting millions of people around the world despite the efforts of governments and professionals from the medical area. Worldwide the most common cause of children’s death is diarrhoea. Evidence Acquisition: Diarrhoea disorders generally appear with watery stools, sometimes mixed with blood, accompanied by abdominal pain, vomiting and fever. The symptoms depend on the content and distribution of body fluid, daily water requirements and physiological water loss in connection with age through sweating, urination and breathing, the degree of fluid and electrolyte loss in the liquid stool. Results: Several effective interventions have been introduced as part of diarrhoea management in the last two decades such as oral rehydration solution, zinc supplementation, vitamin A supplementation and oral administration of antibiotics and vaccines. To reduce the mortality rate, control of safe drinking water, good sanitation and vaccination against typhoid and cholera are recommended, especially in high-risk populations. Probiotics have been proposed, after more than a half of century, as additional therapy in the treatment of acute diarrhoea. Several probiotic strains showed benefit in meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials. Conclusions: Due to the high level of evidence available, the term “oral bacteriotherapy”, used for decades in the prevention and therapy of gastroenteritis in the growing age and adults, has expanded, but probiotics are acquiring significant scientific value based on the results from human trials. The future of probiotics depends on further explanation/elucidation of basic mechanisms, allowing scientists and physicians to maximize their health benefits

Changes on fecal microbiota in rats exposed to permethrin during postnatal development

Alteration of the gut microbiota through diet and environmental contaminants may disturb the mammalian digestive system, leading to various diseases. Because most exposure to environmentally pyrethroid pesticides such as permethrin (PERM) occurs through the diet, the commensal gut microbiota is likely to be exposed to PERM. The study aimed at evaluating the effect of low-dose exposure to PERM in early life on the composition of fecal microbiota in rats. Over a 4-month follow-up period, fecal microbiota and short-chain fatty acids were measured in order to identify possible differences between PERM-treated rats and controls. Further in vitro antimicrobial experiments were conducted to establish the antibacterial activity of PERM against different strains to obtain Minimal Inhibitory Concentrations. The main finding focused on the reduced abundance of Bacteroides-Prevotella-Porphyromonas species, increased Enterobacteriaceae and Lactobacillus in PERM-treated rats compared to controls. Changes of acetic and propionic acid levels were registered in PERM-treated group. From in vitro studies, PERM showed higher antibacterial activity against beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus paracasei, while to inhibit potential pathogens as Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli PERM concentration needed to be increased. In summary, exposure to PERM could affect the fecal microbiota and could be a crucial factor contributing to the development of diseases