Administration of probiotics during pregnancy is an important method to prevent allergic diseases and to reduct infections in the baby. Prof. Susanna Esposito, President WAidid, explains that in the second and third trimester of the pregnancy, it is possible to colonize the mother and then to transmit the colonizing bacteria to the infant: at birth, a microbiota able to prevent potential allergies and infections will be acquired by the infant through the secretion of the mother. The interesting data - stresses prof. Esposito - is that the colonization seems to remain quite stable up to the age of two years, and this has been demonstrated for four strains: enterococcus faecium l3, lactobacillus casei, lactobacillus lactis, bifidobacterium bb-12.