Biotherapeutic agents and disease in infants.

Human milk contains many factors that act synergistically or with redundancy in protecting suckling infants from infectious diseases. The rigorous application of the scientific method has shown significant beneficial effects of these specific factors. The beneficial effects of biotherapeutic agents, including prebiotics and probiotics, on the alteration of intestinal microflora and modulation of the local and systemic immune response of infants have been shown. The beneficial effects of these compounds on preventing diarrhea and possibly other infectious diseases in infants serves as a model for the development and use of biotherapeutic agents to treat and prevent infectious diseases in persons of all ages.