Probiotic Good for Respiratory Health

DUNEDIN, New Zealand—A powder preparation of the oral probiotic Streptococcus salivarius K12 (as BLIS K12, from BLIS Technologies Ltd., distributed by Frutarom) was given to 19 young otitis media-prone children following a three-day course of amoxicillin administered as a preliminary to ventilation tube placement (Eur J Clin Microbio Infect Dis. 2008;27(12):1261-63) (DOI:10.1007/s10096-008-0569-4). In two subjects, the use of strain K12 appeared to affect the expansion of an indigenous population of inhibitory S. salivarius. In other children, strain K12 colonization extended beyond the oral cavity to also include the nasopharynx or adenoid tissue. The relatively low proportion (33 percent) of subjects that colonized was attributed to failure of the amoxicillin pre-treatment to sufficiently reduce the indigenous S. salivarius populations prior to dosing with strain K12 powder.