[Can antibiotic-associated diarrhea be prevented?]

Post-antibiotic diarrhea is common but rarely serious. The chief cause is changes in the normal intestinal flora. Decrease in the number of bacteria leads to maldigestion of carbohydrates, resulting in osmotic diarrhea. Disappearance of the flora encourages the emergence of resistant strains, e.g. Clostridium difficile. General measures concern the prescription of antibiotics and the use of probiotics. The latter restore and replace the normal flora and prevent more than half of all cases of diarrhea, in particular serious forms and pseudo-membranous colitis. Antibiotics are not accompanied by any complication in 80% of instances. Probiotics should be used in high risk patients: elderly, seriously ill or hospitalised for long periods.