Probiotics usage in childhood helicobacter pylori Infection

In both developed and developing countries, Helicobacter pylori is most frequently acquired during childhood. Standard triple therapy has been the recommended first-line therapy since the first guidelines for H. pylori infection in children were published. Over the last decade, however, the success of such eradication therapy has declined, in part due to the development of H. pylori resistance. Because the infection is common and may have serious consequences, alternative anti-. H. pylori treatments have recently received attention. One of the potential therapies is probiotic cultures; promising results have been observed in initial studies with numerous probiotic strains. In this chapter, we comprehensively review the mechanisms of action of probiotics on H. pylori infection and present the results of published studies in children using probiotics as possible agents to control H. pylori infection. The effect of the addition of probiotics to the standard H. pylori eradication therapy for the prevention of antibiotic associated side effects is also discussed.