Probiotics may also help reduce the production of dangerous proteins for that disease, said Schlievert. aureus can also cause enterocolitis, a life-threatening immune response in the gut. rhamnosus in combination, could dramatically reduce the risk of TSS in vulnerable populations. Lactobacillus bacteria have already been shown to be safe, Schlievert said, and the new work suggests that treatment with L. In this case, however, it offered an effective action against pathogenic S. In microbiology research, Schlievert said, colonization by a single bacterium is often regarded as unhealthy. 'Some of the women in the treatment group had this tremendous growth of Lactobacilli,' Schlievert said.įurther studies revealed that 9 of those women were colonized with only L. coli and other pathogens, but the researchers noticed an unexpected consequence. That molecule proved effective against E. A few years ago, he and his colleagues recruited 205 women to test whether a novel molecular mixture, when added to tampons, would inhibit pathogenic bacteria.

The new work, he said, was motivated by observations made during an earlier study. In the early 1980s, he was the first researcher to identify the toxin that triggers an overreaction of the immune system, and to show how high-absorbency tampons facilitated production of that toxin if S. Schlievert has been studying TSS - and its prevention - for decades. 'We know that 20% of people over age 12 cannot make antibodies and never will make antibodies against toxic shock syndrome,' he said. Such a preventive measure has the potential to benefit millions of vulnerable people, Schlievert said. He noted that adding these probiotics to tampons or other menstrual products could reduce the risk - and global incidence - of TSS associated with menstruation.

'If any toxin is made, the probiotics still prevent inflammation.' aureus,' said microbiologist Patrick Schlievert, Ph.D., at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, in Iowa City. aureus strains that produce the problematic proteins.Ī combination of the 2 could both prevent growth and inhibit the immune response. acidophilus, in addition, inhibited the growth of the S. A study published in the American Society for Microbiology's journal Microbiology Spectrum reports that strains of 2 bacteria, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus, successfully inhibited the production of the superantigens that cause TSS, in lab experiments. Probiotics may help prevent the disease before the cytokine cascade ever begins.

System shock hybrids