Yogurt product touted as C. difficile treatment; McGill expert expresses doubts

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Product touted as C. difficile treatment; McGill expert expresses doubts

http://www.canada.com/health/story.html?id=34bc4227-c895-43b6-aa50-c4f4006c631a

 

Friday, August 20, 2004

 

 

LAVAL, Que. (CP) - A milk product similar to highly concentrated yogurt was

touted Thursday as a potential treatment for the deadly C. difficile

bacteria that has hit a number of hospitals.

 

Health-food company Bio-K Plus International Inc. said its concentrated

product neutralized the Clostridium difficile bacteria, which can cause

severe diarrhea, in seven patients with C. difficile.

 

But an infectious-disease expert said the company's claims were not solid

science because of the study's small sample size.

 

Clostridium difficile has been a cause of concern in a number of Canadian

hospitals.

 

A recent study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal

reported the bacteria has killed up to 89 people in Montreal and Calgary

hospitals since 2001 while another study said 100 people died in the last

18 months in a hospital in Sherbrooke, Que., from C. difficile.

 

Researchers at Montreal's Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital fed the

concentrated milk substance to 84 patients suffering from a variety of

ailments, including C. difficile.

 

Bio-K Plus officials told a news conference that of the seven C. difficile

patients who were given the product, six showed improvement in their

diarrhea symptoms with no major side effects.

 

However, Dr. Michael Libman, an assistant professor at McGill University,

said the number of patients studied was much too small to draw specific

conclusions.

 

" The patients with C. difficile, that number is so minuscule that it's

meaningless, " Libman said in an interview.

 

He added it wasn't clear whether the C. difficile patients studied at

Maisonneuve-Rosemont were representative of most patients who contract the

bacteria.

 

But Dr. Karl Weiss, a microbiologist at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital,

said the treatment requires further study and could have major health

implications.

 

" There is a major, undeniable benefit for this group of patients, " said

Weiss, adding the findings would be presented at a major medical conference

in Orlando, Fla., in October.

 

" This compound is pretty useful and pretty interesting in terms of

preventing this type of problem. "

 

The company said it would not release its study prior to the Florida

conference.

 

The active ingredient in the product is the CL1285 bacteria, which can line

the digestive tract and fight off dangerous pathogens.

 

Bio-K Plus officials said they would commission further studies on the milk

product involving several hospitals and a larger patient group.