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Probiotics for Prevention of Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections in Women

A Review of the Evidence from Microbiological and Clinical Studies

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Abstract

Recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) afflict a great number of women around the world. The use of probiotics, especially lactobacilli, has been considered for the prevention of UTIs. Since lactobacilli dominate the urogenital flora of healthy premenopausal women, it has been suggested that restoration of the urogenital flora, which is dominated by uropathogens, with lactobacilli may protect against UTIs. This review is based on a search of PubMed for relevant articles. Many in vitro studies, animal experiments, microbiological studies in healthy women, and clinical trials in women with UTIs have been carried out to assess the effectiveness and safety of probiotics for prophylaxis against uropathogens. Most of them had encouraging findings for some specific strains of lactobacilli. Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 and L. reuteri RC-14 (previously called L. fermentum RC-14) seemed to be the most effective among the studied lactobacilli for the prevention of UTIs. L. casei shirota and L. crispatus CTV-05 have also shown efficacy in some studies. L. rhamnosus GG did not appear to be quite as effective in the prevention of UTIs. The evidence from the available studies suggests that probiotics can be beneficial for preventing recurrent UTIs in women; they also have a good safety profile. However, further research is needed to confirm these results before the widespread use of probiotics for this indication can be recommended.

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Notes

  1. The use of trade names is for product identification purposes only and does not imply endorsement.

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Acknowledgements

The authors received no funding for the preparation of this manuscript and have no potential conflicts of interest directly relevant to its contents.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alfa Institute of Biomedical Sciences (AIBS), 9 Neapoleos Street, Marousi, 151 23, Athens, Greece

    Matthew E. Falagas, Gregoria I. Betsi & Theodoros Tokas

  2. Department of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Matthew E. Falagas

  3. First Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Athens University School of Medicine, Athens, Greece

    Stavros Athanasiou

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  1. Matthew E. Falagas
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  2. Gregoria I. Betsi
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  3. Theodoros Tokas
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  4. Stavros Athanasiou
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Correspondence to Matthew E. Falagas.

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Falagas, M.E., Betsi, G.I., Tokas, T. et al. Probiotics for Prevention of Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections in Women. Drugs 66, 1253–1261 (2006). https://doi.org/10.2165/00003495-200666090-00007

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