SynthesisInternational journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases2021
The effect of probiotics on respiratory tract infection with special emphasis on COVID-19: Systemic review 2010-20.
Synthesis in International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. It is linked to trial NCT05157425 (Efficacy and Safety of a Multistrain Probiotic Formula to Boost the Immune Response to Influenza Virus Vaccination), which is not on this map. Cited by 34 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Efficacy and Safety of a Multistrain Probiotic Formula to Boost the Immune Response to Influenza Virus Vaccination
Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Assessment of the Prophylactic Effects of Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Synbiotics Against COVID-19 Infection: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.Clinical medicine & research · 2024Pooled it
- Probiotics for preventing or treating COVID-19; a systematic review of research evidence and meta-analyses of efficacy for preventing death, severe disease, or disease progression.Wellcome open research · 2022Pooled it
- Precision synbiotic intervention with 2'-fucosyllactose and infant-derivedFrontiers in nutrition · 2026Trial
- Probiotics and Fever Duration in Children With Upper Respiratory Tract Infections: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- Effect of probiotic lozenges on improvement in tympanometric classification within 12 weeks in children aged 3-6 years with adenoid hypertrophy and otitis media with effusion undergoing non-surgical management: a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025Trial
- Trial
- A Three-Arm, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study to Evaluate the Safety ofNutrients · 2023Trial
- Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BLa80 for preventing allergic, respiratory, and gastrointestinal diseases in young children in China: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial.Clinical and experimental pediatrics · 2026Article
- Characterization of Pathogens in Respiratory Tract Infection Using Targeted Next-Generation Sequencing: A Population-Based Study in Foshan City from 2022 to 2024.Current medicinal chemistry · 2026Article
- Meta-analysis of efficacy of probiotics in reducing postoperative infections and improving outcomes in gastrointestinal surgery.Frontiers in surgery · 2026Review
- The intersection between human metapneumovirus and the respiratory microbiome.Virology journal · 2025Review
- Exploring the Therapeutic Landscape of Probiotics in Enteric and Respiratory Viral Infections.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2025Review
- Association of upper respiratory tract infection with perioperative respiratory adverse events in pediatric tonsillectomy patients : A propensity-matched cohort study.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2025Article
- Article
- Progress in Probiotic Science: Prospects of Functional Probiotic-Based Foods and Beverages.International journal of food science · 2025Review
- Preservative Effectiveness of Lactic Acid Bacteria on Fruits and Vegetables.International journal of cell biology · 2025Review
- The Influence of the Gut Microbiota on Host Health: A Focus on the Gut-Lung Axis and Therapeutic Approaches.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Protective Effects of Probiotics Against Systemic Inflammation in Mice Model with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Induced by Cigarette-smoke.Reports of biochemistry & molecular biology · 2024Article
- Dry Powder Inhaler Formulation ofPharmaceutics · 2024Article
- Unravelling the gut-lung axis: insights into microbiome interactions and Traditional Indian Medicine's perspective on optimal health.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
To evaluate the effects of probiotics on respiratory tract infection (RTI) a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from January 2010 to January 2020 was conducted. The PubMed, Google Scholar, Embase, Scopus, Clinicaltrials.gov, and International Clinical Trials Registry Platform databases were systematically searched for the following keywords: respiratory tract infection, probiotics, viral infection, COVID-19, and clinical trial. A total of 27 clinical trials conducted on 9433 patients with RTI plus 10 ongoing clinical studies of probiotics intervention in Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were reviewed. The review looked at the potency of probiotics for the hindrance and/or treatment of RTI diseases, this may also apply to COVID-19. The review found that probiotics could significantly increase the plasma levels of cytokines, the effect of influenza vaccine and quality of life, as well as reducing the titer of viruses and the incidence and duration of respiratory infections. These antiviral and immune-modulating activities and their ability to stimulate interferon production recommend the use of probiotics as an adjunctive therapy to prevent COVID-19. Based on this extensive review of RCTs we suggest that probiotics are a rational complementary treatment for RTI diseases and a viable option to support faster recovery.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.