Taking probiotics on top of a course of antibiotics may help ward off the diarrhea that often comes along with antibiotic treatment, a new review of past studies suggests. When researchers combined trials of all types of the gut-healthy microbes, they found that patients with a range of conditions -- from ear infections to sepsis -- were 42 percent less likely to get diarrhea from their antibiotic drugs if they were also taking a probiotic. One-quarter to one-third of people treated with an antibiotic typically get diarrhea as a result, researchers said. It’s often not more than an unpleasant side effect, but can be serious enough to send some patients to the hospital.
