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)

An outbreak of giardiasis was observed in a sheep farm in Central Italy. Infected lambs (30-90 days of age) showed a malabsorption syndrome, decreased weight gain and impairment in feed efficiency. The most relevant clinical sign was the excretion of malodorous and poorly formed faeces, whereas diarrhoea was rarely observed in the flock. Laboratory investigations revealed the presence of Giardia in affected animals, while no other significant viral, bacterial or parasitic pathogens were identified in faeces or tissue samples. A mild to severe infiltrative enteritis with eosinophils, lymphocytes and plasma cells was detected in histological sections of the gut. Giardia parasites collected from duodenal aspirates were typed as Giardia duodenalis Assemblage B, by PCR amplification and sequencing of the TPI gene. Treatment with fenbendazole at a dose of 10mg/kg for 3 consecutive days, successfully cleared the infection. These results show that G. duodenalis can cause significant economic losses in sheep farming.
 ...
PMID:Severe weight loss in lambs infected with Giardia duodenalis assemblage B. 1689 Oct 57

Phrynoderma is a rare form of follicular hyperkeratosis associated with deficiencies in vitamins A or C or essential fatty acids. We report a 6-year-old boy with an unusual presentation of phrynoderma, characterized by multiple minute digitate hyperkeratoses associated with hair casts and related to a severe deficiency in vitamins A and C complicating a chronic intestinal giardiasis. The lesions responded well to oral vitamins A and C combined with albendazole treatment. Vitamin A deficiency-related phrynoderma is rare in western countries and is usually caused by digestive malabsorption resulting from large intestine resection or pancreatic failure. To our knowledge, this is the first reported instance of phrynoderma related to a chronic intestinal parasitic infection by Giardia intestinalis with intestinal malabsorption as a likely consequence.
 ...
PMID:Vitamin a deficiency phrynoderma associated with chronic giardiasis. 1691 30

Giardia lamblia, the cause of human giardiasis, is among the most common intestinal protozoa worldwide. Human infection may range from asymptomatic shedding of giardial cysts to symptomatic giardiasis, being responsible for abdominal cramps, nausea, acute or chronic diarrhoea, with malabsorption and failure of children to thrive. At present, treatment options include the nitroimidazoles derivatives; especially metronidazole, which has been the mainstay of treatment for decades and is still widely used. The increasing number of reports of refractory cases with this group of drugs and other antigiardial agents, has raised concern and led to a search for other compounds, some of which have arisen due to the introduction of drugs initially addressed to other diseases. The present article examines some of the most important points of antigiardial pharmacotherapy available at present and the future prospects of development of new agents.
 ...
PMID:Giardiasis: a pharmacotherapy review. 1769 91

Hypomagnesemia is a rare cause of hypoparathyroidism that can have a very serious clinical presentation. We report the case of a 62-year-old woman hospitalized for exploration of acute tetraparesis with vomiting and swallowing disorders associated with a severe hypocalcemia. Biological explorations revealed hypoparathyroidism (PTH=16ng/L) related to low plasma and erythrocyte magnesium (0.32 and 1.32mmol/L, respectively) as well as hypocalciuria and hypomagnesuria linked to gastrointestinal malabsorption. Etiologic investigations led to the discovery of Giardiasis lamblia on duodenal biopsies and a long-term treatment with proton pump inhibitors (PPI) (omeprazole followed by esomeprazole), both being recently described as causal factors of hypomagnesemic hypoparathyroidism. After treatment of the parasite (by metronidazole) and discontinuation of the PPI, both calcium and magnesium levels returned to normal. Selective malabsorption has been previously reported in patients with giardiasis. The specific mechanism of PPI participation in the genesis of hypomagnesemia remains a subject of debate.
 ...
PMID:[Chronic use of proton-pump inhibitors associated with giardiasis: A rare cause of hypomagnesemic hypoparathyroidism?]. 1861 53

Giardia is the most prevalent human intestinal parasitic protist in the world, and one of the most common parasite of companion animals and young livestock. Giardia is a major cause of diarrhea in children and in travelers. The host-microbial interactions that govern the outcome of infection remain incompletely understood. Findings available to date indicate that the infection causes diarrhea via a combination of intestinal malabsorption and hypersecretion. Malabsorption and maldigestion mainly result from a diffuse shortening of epithelial microvilli. This enterocytic injury is mediated by activated host T lymphocytes. Pathophysiological activation of lymphocytes is secondary to Giardia-induced disruption of epithelial tight junctions, which in turn increases intestinal permeability. Loss of epithelial barrier function is a result of Giardia-induced enterocyte apoptosis. Recent findings suggest that these effects may facilitate the development of chronic enteric disorders, including inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and allergies, via mechanisms that remain poorly understood. A newly discovered SGLT-1 glucose uptake-mediated host cytoprotective mechanism may represent an effective modulator of the epithelial apoptosis induced by this parasite, and, possibly, by other enteropathogens. A better understanding of the pathogenesis of giardiasis will shed light on new potential therapeutic targets.
 ...
PMID:Pathophysiology of enteric infections with Giardia duodenalius. 1881 92

Giardia lamblia is the most common protozoan isolated from the gastrointestinal tract. Giardiasis affects predominantly children and young adults, and its usual symptoms are abdominal pain, diarrhea, and malabsorption. Interestingly, the intestinal mucosa may appear unremarkable even in clinically severe giardiasis. In addition, the protozoan Giardia lamblia is notorious for its inconspicuous appearance in hematoxylin and eosin sections. Moreover, it can still be missed even with the use of special stains such as Giemsa or trichrome. In the present study, we investigated the immunoreactivity of Giardia lamblia to c-kit in duodenal mucosal biopsies. Giardia lamblia trophozoites were immunoreactive for c-kit in all of the study group cases (n = 14) and in none of the control group cases (n = 10). Thus, c-kit immunostain is a very sensitive method for the demonstration of Giardia lamblia. Moreover, the protozoan attains a conspicuous and unique appearance, whether it floats freely in the lumen between the duodenal villi, adheres to the mucosal surface, or is located in the cytoplasm of the epithelial cells. We recommend performing c-kit immunostain in every duodenal biopsy with clinical or pathologic suspicion of giardiasis.
 ...
PMID:C-kit (CD117) immunostain is useful for the diagnosis of Giardia lamblia in duodenal biopsies. 1952 4

The gastrointestinal tract possesses a huge epithelial surface area and performs many different tasks. Amongst them are the digestive and absorptive functions. Disorders of intestinal absorption and secretion comprise a variety of different diseases, e.g. coeliac disease, lactase deficiency or Whipple's disease. In principle, impaired small intestinal function can occur with or without morphological alterations of the intestinal mucosa. Therefore, in the work up of a malabsorptive syndrome an early small intestinal biopsy is encouraged in conjunction with breath tests and stool analysis to guide further management. In addition, there is an array of functional tests, the clinical availability of which becomes more and more limited. In any case, early diagnosis of the underlying pathophysiology is most important, in order to initiate proper therapy. In this chapter, diagnostic procedure of malabsorption is discussed with special attention to specific disease like coeliac disease, Whipple's disease, giardiasis and short bowel syndrome. Furthermore, bacterial overgrowth, carbohydrate malabsorption and specific nutrient malabsorption (e.g. for iron or vitamins) and protein-losing enteropathy are presented with obligatory and optional tests as used in the clinical setting.
 ...
PMID:Disorders of intestinal secretion and absorption. 1950 67

Giardia lamblia is the causative agent of giardiasis, one of the most common parasitic infections of the human intestinal tract. This disease most frequently affects children causing abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, acute or chronic diarrhea, and malabsorption syndrome. In undernourished children, giardiasis is a determining factor in retarded physical and mental development. Antigiardial chemotherapy focuses on the trophozoite stage. Metronidazole and other nitroimidazoles have been used for decades as the therapy of choice against giardiasis. In recent years many other drugs have been proposed for the treatment of giardiasis. Therefore, several synthetic and natural substances have been tested in search of new giardicidal compounds. This study is a review of drugs used in in vitro and in vivo tests, and also drugs tested in clinical trials (nonrandomized and randomized).
 ...
PMID:The old and new therapeutic approaches to the treatment of giardiasis: where are we? 1970 15

OBJECTIVE. Intestinal infection with Giardia lamblia may lead to therapy-resistant, long-lasting post-giardiasis irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). We report two open pilot studies aiming to treat this condition, using either antibiotics or bacterio-therapy. MATERIAL AND METHODS. Twenty-eight patients with persistent abdominal symptoms, following clearance of G. lamblia infection, were investigated. Eighteen received treatment with rifaximin plus metronidazole (8-10 days) whereas 10 received a suspension of live faecal flora, installed into the duodenum during gastro-duodenoscopy. Customary abdominal symptoms and symptoms following a lactulose breath test were quantified by questionnaires. Hydrogen and methane production after lactulose were analysed in expired air and excretion of fat and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) was examined in faeces. RESULTS. As compared with pre-treatment values, total customary symptom scores were barely significantly reduced (p = 0.07) after antibiotics, but were highly significantly reduced (p = 0.0009) after bacterio-therapy. However, symptom improvement following bacterio-therapy did not persist 1 year later. Hydrogen breath excretion was slightly reduced after antibiotics, but not after bacterio-therapy. Compared with healthy persons, faecal excretion of fat was significantly increased in Giardia-cured patients. SCFAs were increased in the bacterio-therapy group, and were not influenced by therapy. CONCLUSIONS. Both antibiotics and bacterio-therapy were ineffective with respect to cure of post-giardiasis IBS. High faecal excretion of fat and SCFAs suggests that intestinal malabsorption of fat and carbohydrates may play a role in the IBS-like complaints of these patients.
 ...
PMID:Antibiotic or bacterial therapy in post-giardiasis irritable bowel syndrome. 1982 94

Giardiasis is one of the most common intestinal protozoan infections worldwide. The etiological agent, Giardia duodenalis (syn. Giardia lamblia, Giardia intestinalis), is a flagellated, binucleated protozoan parasite which infects a wide array of mammalian hosts (Adam, 2001). The symptoms of giardiasis include abdominal cramps, nausea, and acute or chronic diarrhea, with malabsorption and failure of children to thrive occurring in both sub-clinical and symptomatic disease (Thompson et al., 1993). Infections are transmitted by cysts which are excreted in the feces of infected humans and animals. Human giardiasis is distributed worldwide, with rates of detection between 2-5% in the developed world and 20-30% in the developing nations (Farthing, 1994). There is significant variation in the outcome of Giardia infections. Most infections are self-limiting, although re-infection is common in endemic areas and chronic infections also occur. Moreover, some individuals suffer from severe cramps, nausea and diarrhea while others escape these overt symptoms. This review will describe recent advances in parasite genetics and host immunity that are helping to shed light on this variability.
 ...
PMID:Giardia duodenalis: the double-edged sword of immune responses in giardiasis. 2059 99


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10