efektivitas probiotik ragi pada anak dengan shigellosis=EFFECTIVENESS OF YEAST PROBIOTICS IN CHILDREN WITH SHIGELLOSIS

Shigellosis remains a major cause of childhood diarrhea, particularly in low-resource settings, and is associated with significant morbidity. This randomized controlled trial evaluated the effectiveness of Saccharomyces boulardii as adjunctive therapy in children with shigellosis. Sixty hospitalized children aged <18 years were randomly assigned to receive standard therapy plus S. boulardii (500 mg/day for 5 days) or standard therapy alone. Outcomes included daily diarrhea frequency, stool consistency, and duration of diarrhea, monitored until recovery. Both groups were comparable at baseline. Clinical improvement occurred progressively in both groups from Day 1, with significant reductions in diarrhea frequency and duration and improved stool consistency over the 5-day observation period. Although the S. boulardii group demonstrated faster and more consistent clinical improvement, particularly in diarrhea frequency and stool normalization, no statistically significant differences were observed between groups for diarrhea frequency, stool consistency, or duration of illness at any time point (p > 0.05). The mean length of hospital stay (3.97 ± 1.16 vs. 3.90 ± 1.06 days; p = 0.956) and total post-treatment diarrhea duration (41.37 ± 19.82 vs. 48.10 ± 21.27 hours; p = 0.688) were also comparable between groups. These findings suggest that while S. boulardii may contribute to favorable clinical trends, its addition to standard therapy did not confer a statistically significant advantage in pediatric shigellosis. Larger studies incorporating microbiological endpoints are warranted to further clarify its role.