Probiotics in childhood upper respiratory tract infections: a systematic review

acute upper respiratory infections (URI) are one of the most common infections in childhood. It is estimated children younger than 5, suffer from 4 to 8 episodes annually, andURI incidence is 2 million children all around the world. The aim of this review was to evaluate and summarized studies about relation between probiotic and upper respiratory tract infection in children. The articles were identified by searching the Cochrane Library, PUBMED, Scopus and MEDLINE, IranMedex, Google Scholar, Ovid, Science Direct, Margiran, Scientific Information Database up to December 2014. We selected key words regard to MeSH Database (probiotic AND respiratory infection AND children). Nine types of probiotics were used on 2261 children in these studies, included KB29, CRL-431, BB-12, TH-4, FOS, CRL431, DSM17938، Lactobacillus acidophilusand Bifidobacteriumbifidum. Only two studies reported the side effects of probiotics. these studies revealed that probiotic administration could reduce the duration of upper respiratory tract infection and decrease the loss of school days.