The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of Clostridium butyricum, a probiotic drug, when combined with vancomycin in the treatment of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD). Seventy-one patients suffering from CDAD were divided into 3 groups : vancomycin alone group, vancomycin with Streptococcus faecalis group and vancomycin with Clostridium butyricum group. The daily stool frequency for patients receiving vancomycin alone at 2 days was 3.9/day. For patients receiving vancomycin with C. butyricum, this parameter was significantly lower than in the vancomycin alone group (p<0.05) but this was not so for the vancomycin with S. faecalis group. In addition, the treatment period with vancomycin was reduced when it was co-administered with the C. butyricum probiotic drug.
These results indicated that the combination of vancomycin and C. butyricum had a beneficial effect in the treatment of CDAD.