Role of Lactobacillus Plantarum and Lactobacillus acidophilus as a treatment of cryptosporidiosis in mice

Cryptosporidiosis is a disease caused by a protozoan parasite called Cryptosporidium which infects gastrointestinal epithelium of mammals and produce diarrhea that is self-limited in immuno competent individuals but life-threatening in immuno compromised patients, especially those with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Till now, there is no effective therapy other than a healthy immune system. The current study was designed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of probiotics mixture of Lactobacillus Plantarum and Lactobacillus acidophilus against Cryptosporidium infection in experimentally infected mice. Oocysts of Cryptosporidium were isolated from the human stool and were used to infect mice. Forty male albino mice were divided equally into four groups, each group contained 10 mouse, a group I (early treated group), were treated from the 1st day from infection to the 11th post-infection, group II (late treated group), were treated from the 4th day from infection to the 15th post-infection, and group (III) (untreated group), were mice considered as a positive control group. The results showed that daily application of a mixture of Lactobacillus Plantarum and Lactobacillus acidophilus was able to decrease the parasitic infection in mice as compared with the untreated group. It was observed that the using of these probiotics in the early treated group was more efficient than the using of these probiotics in the late treated group. A mixture of Lactobacillus Plantarum and Lactobacillus acidophilus are good therapeutic agents for cryptosporidial infection.