Abstract Acute diarrhoea in young children is very common and remains an important health problem. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a multistrain synbiotic compound in a drops formulation for treating acute diarrhoea of probable viral origin in children aged ≤2 years. A prospective, multicentre, randomised, open-label and controlled study was conducted in a cohort of 75 children (40 received a one-week treatment with a 7-multistrain synbiotic drops plus supportive therapy and 35 received supportive therapy alone). Based on the WHO definition of diarrhoea (≥3 loose/liquid stools/day) and the Bristol Stool Form Scale (BSFS) (stool consistency 5-7), a higher percentage of children in the synbiotic group experienced less diarrhoea (70%) vs controls (88.6%) ( ). This statistically significant difference was present since day two of treatment. When diarrhoea was defined as ≥3 bowel movements/day for ≥3 consecutive days, diarrhoea was absent in 20% of children in the synbiotic group, whereas none of those in the control group was free of diarrhoea ( ). The median days with diarrhoea was 4 (range 3-6.5) in the synbiotic group and 6 (range 5-7) in the control group ( ). The use of this synbiotic product allowed children’s diarrhoeal process to be shortened by two days and promoted a faster recovery. These results along a very favourable safety and tolerability profile supports the use of this multistrain synbiotic product in acute diarrhoea of suspected viral origin in children two years old or younger.
Marín et al. (Mon,) studied this question.