Therapeutic use of a receptor mimic probiotic reduces intestinal Shiga toxin levels in a piglet model of hemolytic uremic syndrome

Table 2 Incidences of clinical disease and vascular lesions in pigs inoculated with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli and treated with a probiotic strain expressing a Shiga toxin receptor mimic vs. a sham strain lacking the receptor mimic

Experimental group	Number of pigs^d	Incidence of clinical disease	Incidence of vascular lesions in brainstem	Incidence of vascular lesions in ileum
Probiotic^a	30	3/30	11/30	17/30
Sham^b	30	4/30	17/30	19/30
Negative control^c	10	0/10	0/10	0/10

^aInoculated with STEC strain, treated with probiotic. ^bInoculated with STEC strain, treated with sham. ^cInoculated with non-pathogenic E. coli strain, no treatment. ^dSum of three experimental replicates.
Negative control pigs were inoculated with a non-pathogenic, commensal E.coli strain. Probiotic treatment had a tendency to reduce the incidence of vascular lesions in brainstem (p = 0.098); however, treatment with the receptor mimic probiotic did not significantly reduce the incidences of clinical disease or vascular lesions (Fisher’s exact test).

ISSN: 1756-0500