Scientific understanding of probiotics and their potential for preventing and treating health conditions is at an early stage, but moving ahead. In November 2005, a conference that was co-funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and convened by the American Society for Microbiology explored this topic.
According to the conference report, some uses of probiotics for which there is some encouraging evidence from the study of specific probiotic formulations are as follows:

• To treat diarrhea (this is the strongest area of evidence, especially for diarrhea from rotavirus)
• To prevent and treat infections of the urinary tract or female genital tract
• To treat irritable bowel syndrome
• To reduce recurrence of bladder cancer
• To shorten how long an intestinal infection lasts that is caused by a bacterium called Clostridium difficile
• To prevent and treat pouchitis (a condition that can follow surgery to remove the colon)
• To prevent and manage atopic dermatitis (eczema) in children

 American Society of Microbiology / July 2008