Could Probiotics Benefit Patients With Severe Burns?

Do you know that there are approximately 10⁷ (10,000,000) Enterobacteriaceae per 1 gram of an adult human’s intestine which are normal flora and thus protects us from other disease causing pathogen. But in case of disease the count of Enterobacteriaceae decreases thus creating a imbalance in the microbiome.

Burn patients experience dramatic changes in the 100 trillion bacteria inside the gastrointestinal tract, research shows.In patients who had suffered severe burns, a study has found that there was a huge increase in Enterobacteriaceae, a family of potentially harmful bacteria. There was a corresponding decrease in beneficial bacteria that normally keep harmful bacteria in check. 

In healthy individuals, the gastrointestinal tract contains more than 100 trillion bacteria, called the microbiome, that live symbiotically and provide numerous benefits. If this healthy balance is disrupted, a state called dysbiosis occurs. Dysbiosis has been linked to many conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes.

The findings suggest that burn patients might benefit from treatment with probiotics (live beneficial bacteria). The findings also might apply to other trauma patients, including patients who have suffered traumatic brain injuries.

Fecal samples were examined from four severely burned patients who were treated in the Burn Center of Loyola University Medical Center. The samples were taken 5 to 17 days after the burn injuries occurred. The microbiomes of these patients were compared with the microbiomes of a control group of eight patients who had suffered only minor burns.

In the severely burned patients, Enterobacteriaceae accounted for an average of 31.9 percent of bacteria in the gut microbiome. By comparison, Enterobacteriaceae accounted for only 0.5 percent of the microbiome in patients who had suffered minor burns. Enterobacteriaceae is a family of bacteria that includes pathological bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella.

It was suggested that such imbalances of bacteria may contribute to sepsis or other infectious complications that cause 75 percent of all deaths in patients with severe burns. The imbalance could compromise the walls of the gastrointestinal tract, enabling harmful bacteria to leak out of the gut and into the bloodstream. A burn or other traumatic injury appears to start a vicious cycle. In response to the injury, the body's immune system mounts an inflammatory response. This causes an imbalance in the microbiome, further boosting the inflammatory response and triggering an even greater imbalance in the microbiome.

Further research can be done to  determine whether administration of probiotics could restore a healthy microbiome and reduce the risk of sepsis and other infectious complications.

Thank you
with love
-Dixy