Selected bacteria with the ability to inhibit the growth of common otopathogens can be used to protect against recurrent acute otitis media and secretory otitis media in children.

In order to assess whether naturally occurring oral lactobacilli have probiotic properties, lactobacilli were isolated from saliva and plaque from children and adolescents, with or without caries lesions. The interference capacities of these lactobacilli were investigated against a panel of 13 clinical isolates and reference strains of Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus, as well as against the subject's autologous mutans streptococci, using the agar-overlay technique. Lactobacillus-mediated inhibition differed significantly between the three subject groups (no caries, arrested caries, or active caries), demonstrating increased inhibition in subjects without present or previous caries experience compared to subjects with arrested caries or subjects presenting with frank lesions. Lactobacilli from subjects lacking S. mutans inhibited the growth of the test panel of mutans streptococci significantly better than lactobacilli from subjects who were colonized. Furthermore, subjects without caries experience harbored lactobacilli that more effectively repressed the growth of their autologous mutans streptococci. Twenty-three Lactobacillus spp. completely inhibited the growth of all mutans streptococci tested. Species with maximum interference capacity against mutans streptococci included Lactobacillus paracasei, Lactobacillus plantarum, and Lactobacillus rhamnosus. Naturally occurring oral lactobacilli significantly inhibited the growth of both test strains of mutans streptococci and the subject's autologous mutans streptococci in vitro, and this effect was more pronounced in caries-free subjects.

This study shows that spray treatment with S sanguinis may be effective against SOM. The mechanism for the effect remains to be investigated.

No abstract

In contrast to the previous studies in VLBW infants, we found an early colonization with LAB. We speculate that this may be due to early feeding of non-pasteurized breast milk.