An unlucky chain of events seems to have resulted in a mans death from probiotics.
The man had been admitted to an intensive care unit with a severe bout of covid-19.
He was given drugs to dampen his immune system, which are routinely used for severe COVID cases.
Close-up of capsule pills.© Olga Zarytska via Getty
He recovered and was eventually discharged from the ICU.
The drugs may have caused the man to have diarrhea, however.
He had been taking the supplement for a month when he started having severe stomach pain.
The doctors found that the man had developed bacteraemia, or a blood infection.
As far as the doctors know, this is the first reported case of definitive probiotics-relatedC.
butyricum[bacteremia ] after treatment of severe COVID-19.
Probiotics are intended to help balance out a persons unhealthy microbiome.
This isnt the first instance of this normally good bacteria causing serious trouble.
The bacteria is known to be arare causeof botulism.
And earlier this May, a separate team of researchers in Japanreportedfive cases of bacteremia traced back toC.
As with this latest report, most of these cases occurred in people who had weakened immune systems.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
