Probiotics as Intestinal Decolonization of ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae; a Randomized, Single Blinded, Placebo Controlled Clinical Trial

Infections due to extended spectrum cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (ESCRE) are a widely recognized public health threat. The prevalence of ESCRE is comparably low in Sweden but is steadily increasing; approximately 5 % of Swedish inhabitants are carrying ESCRE in the gut. ESCRE can lead to infections mainly from urine, abdomen and blood. These infections can be problematic to treat with current available antibiotics and represent a clinical challenge for clinicians around the world with considerable mortality and morbidity. Risk factors for acquiring an ESCRE is e.g. antibiotic treatment, trips to high prevalence countries, family member with ESCRE etc.

The duration of ESCRE carriage is not known. One Swedish study showed that ESCRE carriage can continue despite antibiotic treatment and that false negative cultures in between positive cultures are common. Since few new groups of antibiotics have been developed in the last decades, infections due to ESCRE may be increasingly difficult to treat. The possibility of ESCRE decolonization is therefore a desirable aim, in particular the more virulent enterobacteriaceae strains leading to recurrent clinical infection episodes.

Probiotics are microorganisms marketed as useful bacteria effective locally in the gut. In recent years many studies have focused on potential health benefits in a range of different gastrointestinal diseases e.g. ulcerous colitis, Crohn's disease, antibiotic associated diarrhoea where probiotics potentially have a therapeutic role4. Smaller studies have shown that probiotics possibly can bind and eliminate enteric pathogenic bacteria5-6. A small in vitro study showed that probiotics can be effective against antibiotic resistant bacteria. Larger clinical treatment studies are needed.

ESCRE constitutes a clinical problem and is largely seen in Escherichia coli and klebsiella spp. The investigator's theory is that the probiotic Vivomixx can reject ESCRE and thus decolonize the gut. Vivomixx contains eight different strains of probiotics; Bifidobacterium breve, B. longum, B. infantis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, L. plantarum, L. paracasei, L. bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus and has the best documentation in clinical studies for enteric diseases of today.