In China, Diarrago, a traditional Chinese transdermal patch, is widely used for the treatment of children diarrhea, indigestion, and anorexia. It is prepared from FLOS Caryophylli, Cortex Cinnamomi, and Fructus Piperis Longi. More than ten years of administration have confirmed its convenience and effectiveness in clinic. However, it is unclear how the patch functions in children diarrhea. In this study, ARISA (automated ribosomal intergenic-spacer analysis) ribotyping of gut bacteria in diarrhea infants was compared between oral administration of prescribed traditional Chinese medicine decoction or preparation alone according to the symptom of individual infant diarrhea (negative group) and combined adjuvant treatment of Diarrago (treatment group). The result showed that the adjuvant treatment significantly affected the recovery of gut bacteria in disease infants. In detail, the treatment group had reduced similarity difference from the healthy control and enhanced numbers of core and shared OTUs with the normal control. Besides, an extended action time and slow increase in OTU number were observed in adjuvant treatment group. Based on the present result, it was deduced that the patching played a positive role in the recovery of intestinal microbial ecology balance in diarrhea children and intestinal bacterial population should be a main target of the patch in the disease.
