Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0017536 (giardiasis)
 1,714 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Much difficulties are often encountered in finding the underlying cause of recurrent abdominal pain. Clinical features may vary from one patient to the other and occasionally from one episode to the next even in the same child. The recent development of fibre optic endoscopy may well prove to have a useful diagnostic technique, particularly in those children in whom other investigations are inconclusive. The result of endoscopic examinations in children with recurrent abdominal pain comprising of 62 children aged between 3-13 years were as follows: erosion in 7 children, oesophagitis in 4 children, duodenitis in 3 children, spasm of the pylorus in 2 children, and normal findings were found in 30 children. Of the 30 patients with "normal" endoscopic findings, 7 had psychosomatic problems, 4 had allergy, 4 had urinary tract infection, 2 showed giardiasis, one had epilepsy, 1 was treated as pulmonary tuberculosis, where as in 11 patients organic as well as nonorganic abnormalities could not be found. There seem to be of no significant correlation between the endoscopic and upper gastrointestinal series findings. Endoscopy seem to be of a safe and reliable tool in the diagnosis of a number of organic intestinal lesions otherwise not detected by ordinary investigations.
 ...
PMID:Endoscopic examinations in children with recurrent abdominal pain. 248 37

Parasitic infections of the gut have major implications for child health, but many questions remain unanswered. Protozoal parasites, especially cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis, cause diarrhoea and contribute to impaired growth, neurocognitive development and mortality. Entamoeba histolytica causes dysentery and may have more subtle effects on child growth. Helminth infections are mostly asymptomatic, and untargeted mass deworming has not been shown to be beneficial. However, children with heavy infections certainly benefit from antihelminthic treatment. Hepatosplenic schistosomiasis is a neglected problem on a massive scale, which causes portal hypertension and lifelong morbidity in individuals who get infected in childhood. Neurocysticercosis causes epilepsy and is a significant consequence of taeniasis solium, another neglected disease which is entirely preventable. Parasitic infections of the gut contribute to child health problems on a large scale. Fresh approaches are needed to prevention and treatment.
 ...
PMID:Parasitic infections of the gut in children. 3013 36