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

Before 1970, laboratory staff could not only identify the causative organism of acute diarrhea in 20% of cases, but in 1990, they could identify it in 80% of cases. These organisms are either bacteria, virus, or parasites. The bacteria include enterotoxigenic bacteria (Vibrio cholerae, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, Clostridium perfringens, and Staphylococcus aureus) and enteroinvasive bacteria (Campylobacter jejuni, C. coli, and Salmonella and Shigella species). The leading cause of death in diarrhea patients is dehydration. Oral rehydration solutions (ORS) can alleviate mild and moderate dehydration regardless of the etiology of the diarrhea or the age of the patient. WHO recommends an ORS containing glucose and various electrolytes which permit salt and water absorption in many cases of acute diarrhea. Due to the possibility of excess salt entering the bloodstream (hypernatremia), some pediatricians do not use the WHO recommended ORS in newborns and young infants. Instead they use 2 parts ORS followed by 1 part water. This treatment is not easy for illiterate mothers to follow, however. Continued breast feeding during diarrheal episodes along with administration of ORS protects not only against dehydration, but also hypernatremia. ORS should not be administered in severe case of dehydration, however. Medical personnel need to administer replacement fluid such as Ringer's Lactate solution intravenously regardless of the age group. Once the initial deficit has been controlled, ORS administration and reintroduction of foods can follow. Antibiotics should only be administered if the medical personnel suspect severe cholera in an endemic area (tetracycline and furazolidone); shigellosis, but 1st the bacteria must be tested to see if the strain is multiple drug resistant (ampicillin, trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole, furazolidone, nalidixic acid), and acute amebiasis or giardiasis (metronidazole and tinidazole). Antidiarrheals should not be used.
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PMID:Management of acute diarrhoea. 210 85

We observed unexplained treatment failures in 13 patients with serious infections and apparent incidental giardiasis. Antibiotic concentrations were assayed in the serum from patients before initiating anti-Giardia therapy and again 2 to 3 weeks after therapy. The peak serum concentrations of antibiotics were higher after treatment for giardiasis. The rat model of giardiasis was used to examine the hypothesis that oral antibiotics are malabsorbed during Giardia lamblia infection. Twenty-eight-day-old Sprague-Dawley rats were fed amoxicillin (50 mg/kg/dose), ampicillin (50 mg/kg/dose), cefaclor (50 mg/kg/dose), cephalexin (50 mg/kg/dose), erythromycin (50 mg/kg/dose), penicillin V (50 mg/kg/dose) or sulfamethoxazole (20 mg/kg/dose) and sera were assayed for antibiotics at 1, 2, 4, 6 and 12 hours after therapy. The same rats were fed 10(5) G. lamblia cysts on 4 consecutive days. On Day 7 of infection the rats were fed the same antibiotic and sera were assayed for antibiotics at 1, 2, 4, 6 and 12 hours after therapy. The mean peak serum concentrations for all drugs except sulfamethoxazole were significantly higher in the rats before infection with G. lamblia. These data suggest that oral antibiotic therapy maybe compromised by decreased absorption in the presence of giardiasis.
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PMID:Malabsorption of oral antibiotics in humans and rats with giardiasis. 367 Sep 51

Ninety-four U.S. students who acquired diarrhea in Mexico were treated with furazolidone (47 subjects) or ampicillin (47 subjects) on a double-blind random basis. Of 47 students, 26 (55%) who received furazolidone (100 mg four times daily for 5 days) recovered from illness within 48 h after initiation of therapy, in contrast to 15 of 47 (32%) who received ampicillin (500 mg four times daily for 5 days) (P less than 0.05). Altogether, 74% of students treated with furazolidone and 49% of those receiving ampicillin were well within 72 h (P less than 0.05). When furazolidone was compared with ampicillin, clinical illness was shortened on the average from 65 to 61 h for enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli diarrhea, from 83 to 58 h for shigellosis, from 82 to 51 h for diarrhea unassociated with a detectable agent, and from 72 to 57 h for all cases irrespective of etiology. Although not dramatically effective in the current trial, the broad spectrum of activity of furazolidone is of interest. Because of in vitro activity against Campylobacter strains and known effectiveness in treating giardiasis, furazolidone should be considered in therapy for diarrhea of unknown etiology in certain settings when laboratory processing of stools for etiological agent is not feasible.
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PMID:Furazolidone versus ampicillin in the treatment of traveler's diarrhea. 638 38