Intestinal microbiota in exclusively breast-fed infants with blood-streaked stools and in healthy exclusively breast-fed babies
was compared. Total anaerobes, bifidobacteria, lactobacilli, coliform bacteria, enterococci and clostridia were quantified
by cultivation methods in feces of 17 full-term exclusively breastfed patients (aged 16.3 ± 7.4 weeks) with blood-streaked
stools and in the control group of 22 healthy fullterm exclusively breast-fed infants (13.7 ± 6.4 weeks). Specific fluorescence
in situ hybridization kits for
Bifidobacterium spp. were used for the quantitative detection of bifidobacteria in samples. Control samples had significantly (
p < 0.05) higher counts of total anaerobes. Bifidobacteria were not detected in patients’ samples in 65 % and in controls in
36 % (
p < 0.01). Bifidobacteria counts were also significantly higher in the control group (
p < 0.01). Furthermore, clostridia strains were detected only in feces from bifidobacteria-negative infants reaching counts
>8 log CFU/g. Lactobacilli were not detected in 65 % patients and in 45 % control samples. However, this difference was not
significant as well as the difference in lactobacilli counts. Eosinophilia was observed in 35 % of patients, low IgA concentration
in 71 % and also low IgG concentration in 71 %. pANCA positivity was found in 53 % of patients. In conclusion a significant
low proportion of bifidobacterial microbiota in patients with blood-streaked stools was shown in comparison with controls.