Lactobacillus fermentum as a Treatment for Intestinal Infection

Abstract

Intestinal infections caused by pathogenic bacteria can present as especially virulent infections and can be difficult to treat. Pathogenic bacteria reproduce rapidly and when introduced into the intestines can overpopulate the intestinal flora leading to infection. Antibiotics have become standard treatment for infections so probiotics have not been researched as a possible way to prevent or reduce the severity of an intestinal bacterial infection. I researched this problem by comparing in vitro growth rates of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis with several commercial probiotic products. The pathogenic bacteria and probiotics were incubated and, starting from a standard concentration, growth rates were measured to establish a growth curve for each sample. The growth curves showed that the pathogenic bacterial strains grow faster than the probiotics with the exception of the probiotic that contains Lactobacillus fermentum. A one-sample t-test showed that the probiotic containing L. fermentum did not have a significantly different growth curve than the pathogenic bacteria tested. Pathogenic bacterial strains grow much quicker than most probiotics and healthy bacteria and this could explain why pathogenic bacteria cause such virulent intestinal infections and how they are able to cause such a disruption in the intestinal flora. However, the growth of L. fermentum is similar to pathogenic bacterial strains and could offer a natural combatant to bacterial infections in the intestine.