It has been revealed by a report, published lately in the British medical journal the Lancet, that children suffering from bacterial infections can be highly helped by the simple addition of zinc to the standard antibiotic therapy.

A study was carried out by a team of researchers from the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute and All India Institute of Medical Sciences in India, which has proved zinc as the most powerful drug to treat serious bacterial infections.

It has been found that most of children suffering from such infections tend to die due to treatment failure. A treatment failure often means either a secondary antibiotic treatment within 7 days or shifting to intensive care or confronting death within 21 days.

The team had given half of participants a placebo, while the others the zinc added treatment. It was noted that the group receiving the latter was less likely to encounter a treatment failure. However, the mechanism for the same is still not discovered.

"Zinc is an accessible, low-cost intervention that could add to the effect of antibiotic treatment and lead to substantial reductions in infant mortality”, said lead researcher Shinjini Bhatnagar.