The present study assessed the efficacy and safety of Saccharomyces cerevisiae variant boulardii CNCM I-3799 (S. boulardii CNCM I-3799) in managing acute diarrhea in children.

The study included 100 infants and children of 3–36 months of age with acute diarrhea and rendered them medical care according to the World Health Organization guidelines on the management of acute diarrhea in children and randomized them to the probiotic group (S. boulardii CNCM I-3799 at a dose of 5 billion CFU twice daily) or the placebo group. It treated infants and children for five days and planned an extended follow-up 1 and 2 months after the treatment period. It recorded the recovery time from diarrhea (defined as the duration of diarrhea), frequency, and consistency of stools associated with the severity of diarrhea episodes.

The study observed-

• Association between the administration of S. boulardii CNCM I-3799 and beneficial effects on duration and severity of diarrhea.
• Significantly shorter recovery time from diarrhea in the probiotic group than in the placebo group.
• Faster remission in the probiotic group was demonstrated by a shorter time before the first semisolid stool episode and faster stool consistency normalization.
• Well tolerance of S. boulardii CNCM I-3799.

This study shows the effectiveness of S. boulardii CNCM I-3799 supplementation in acute diarrhea in decreasing the duration and severity of diarrhea in infants and children.

Mourey F, Sureja V, Kheni D et al. A Multicenter, Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Trial of Saccharomyces boulardii in Infants and Children With Acute Diarrhea. The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. 2020;39(11): e347-e351. doi: 10.1097/INF.0000000000002849