Anaerobic dominant flora was reconstructed by synbiotics in an infant with MRSA enteritis

Many cases of fulminant enteritis caused by Staphylococcus aureus have been reported since the 1950s. 1 Such cases usually had a severe clinical course with intestinal necrosis, perforation and systemic sepsis. 2 Characteristic of most cases is a history of treatment with prophylactic antibiotics after abdominal surgery. 3 Recently, methicillin-sensitive S. aureus was reported to be replaced by methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) as a cause of severe enteritis worldwide. 4 Vancomycin is currently an effective antibiotic for MRSA infections but recently, the appearance of vancomycin-intermediate MRSA was reported in Japan. 5 It is now imperative to seek a completely different strategy to control antibiotic-resistant pathogenic bacteria in the body. The idea of controlling intestinal bacterial flora using living organisms such as Bifidobacterium , Lactobacillus and Enterococcus was recently proposed, and is a very promising alternative strategy for controlling antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the intestine. 6 Such beneficial living bacteria for host animals are called probiotics and food supplements as an energy source for probiotics are called prebiotics. 7 Furthermore, the combined use of probiotics and prebiotics was proposed to be a more effective treatment than either probiotics or prebiotics used alone; such combinations are called synbiotics. 7