• Nicola Principi, Rita Cozzali, Edoardo Farinelli, Andrea Brusaferro, and Susanna Esposito.
• Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
• J. Infect. 2018 Feb 1; 76 (2): 111-120.

ObjectiveTo discuss the role of gut dysbiosis in the development of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and the impact of probiotics as a potential therapeutic measure.MethodsPubMed was used to search for all of the studies published over the last 15 years using the key words: "irritable bowel syndrome" and "gut dysbiosis" or "probiotic". More than 800 articles were found, but only those published in English or providing evidence-based data were included in the evaluation.ResultsIBS is a common disease for which no resolutive therapy is presently available. In recent years, strong evidence of a possible relationship between modifications of the gut microbiota composition and development of IBS has been collected. Moreover, the evidence showed that attempts to treat acute infectious and post-antibiotic gastroenteritis with some probiotics were significantly effective in a great number of patients, leading many experts to suggest the use of probiotics to address all of the clinical problems associated with IBS.ConclusionThe available data are promising, but presently, a precise definition of which probiotic or which mixture of probiotics is effective cannot be made. Moreover, the dose and duration of treatment has not been established. Finally, we do not know whether probiotic treatment should be different according to the type of IBS. Further studies are needed before probiotics can be considered a reliable treatment for IBS.Copyright © 2017 The British Infection Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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