A total of 57 infants hospitalized with rotavirus disease were included in this study. The children were randomly divided into the study's two treatment groups: three days of the oral administration of (i) a probiotics formula containing both Bifidobacterium longum BORI and Lactobacillus acidophilus AD031 (N = 28); or (ii) a placebo (probiotic-free skim milk, N = 29) and the standard therapy for diarrhea. There were no differences in age, sex, or blood characteristics between the two groups. When the 57 cases completed the protocol, the duration of the patients' diarrhea was significantly shorter in the probiotics group (4.38 ± 1.29, N = 28) than the placebo group (5.61 ± 1.23, N = 29), with a p-value of 0.001. Symptoms such as duration of fever (p = 0.119), frequency of diarrhea (p = 0.119), and frequency of vomiting (p = 0.331) tended to be ameliorated by the probiotic treatment; however, differences were not statistically significant between the two groups. There were no serious, adverse events and no differences in the frequency of adverse events in both groups.
Keywords: Bifidobacterium; Lactobacillus; probiotics; rotavirus.