Fungemia and Other Fungal Infections Associated with Use of Saccharomyces boulardii Probiotic Supplements

Abstract

<p>Because of widespread use of probiotics, their safety must be guaranteed. We assessed use of <em>Saccharomyces boulardii</em> probiotic yeast from medical records for patients who had <em>Saccharomyces</em> fungemia or other clinical <em>Saccharomyces</em> culture findings. We evaluated all <em>Saccharomyces</em> sp. findings at 5 university hospitals in Finland during 2009–2018. We found 46 patients who had <em>Saccharomyces</em> fungemia; at least 20 (43%) were using <em>S. boulardii</em> probiotic. Compared with a control group that had bacteremia or candidemia, the odds ratio for use of an <em>S. boulardii</em> probiotic was 14 (95% CI 4–44). Of 1,153 nonblood culture findings, the history for 125 patients was checked; at least 24 (19%) were using the probiotic (odds ratio 10, 95% CI 3–32). This study adds to published fungemia cases linked to use of <em>S. boulardii</em> probiotic and sheds light on the scale of nonblood <em>Saccharomyces</em> culture findings that are also linked to use of this probiotic.</p>