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Query: UMLS:C0017536 (giardiasis)
 1,714 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Giardia, a common human parasite, can cause significant morbidity; however, natural medicine has great potential to influence the course of Giardia infection. The most beneficial way to treat giardiasis naturally may be through a combination approach, utilizing both nutritional interventions and phytotherapeutic agents. Nutritional intervention aims to reduce the acute symptoms of Giardia and help clear the infection. This can best be achieved by consuming a whole-food based, high-fiber, diet that is low in fat, lactose, and refined sugars. Additionally, ingestion of probiotics and wheat germ assists in parasite clearance. Numerous medicinal herbs show promise in the treatment of giardiasis. Berberine-containing herbs, garlic, and the Ayurvedic formulation Pippali rasayana currently have the most clinical evidence supporting their use. Blending the nutritional interventions and phytotherapeutic agents outlined in this article can minimize Giardia symptomatology and aid clearance of the parasite, without significant ill effects. As such, this therapeutic strategy should be considered the first-line approach. Antibiotic use may best be reserved for cases that fail to respond to initial treatment with natural measures.
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PMID:Giardiasis: pathophysiology and management. 1277 59

Tinidazole is the first-line drug treatment of giardiasis, as it requires only a single dose to cure infection in most individuals. The related drug metronidazole is as effective, but it requires 5 to 7 days of three times a day therapy. Nitazoxanide appears in limited studies to be as effective as tinidazole or metronidazole, and it does not have the bitter taste of nitroimidazoles. A good alternate for use during pregnancy is paromomycin. Cure of infection varies between 60% and 100% with one course of treatment. Less effective and/or less well-tolerated drugs for the treatment of giardiasis include albendazole, quinacrine, and furazolidone; the use of these agents should be reserved for giardiasis refractory to treatment with the first-line agents.
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PMID:Treatment of Giardiasis. 1562 30

Chronic abdominal pain (CAP) continues to be a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. It affects about 10% of school-going children and adolescents. Few Indian studies have reported an organic cause in 30%-40% of children with recurrent abdominal pain. In developing countries, parasitic infestations such as giardiasis and ascariasis are an important cause, of recurrent abdominal pain but their frequency has decreased over time. There is a paucity of data from India on the aetiology, epidemiology and management strategies for CAP, and there is no consensus on the clinical approach to this problem. We present a practical approach to CAP in children. The first step is to elicit a detailed history and do a thorough physical examination so as to categorize CAP according to the site of pain (epigastric, periumbilical or left lower quadrant), the predominant symptom associated with pain (dyspepsia, isolated pain or altered bowel habits) and to differentiate the pain as organic or functional based on the characteristics of pain and presence or absence of alarm signs. The second step is to do appropriate investigations, restricted to simple tests when functional pain is suspected (Level I) and more investigations (Level Ia) if there are alarm signs and pain appears to be organic in nature. Invasive investigations such as gastrointestinal endoscopy (Level II) may be reserved for those with possible organic pain. Level III investigations need to be done in a small percentage of children and include EEG, workup for food allergy and porphyria. The third step is management of organic CAP according to the aetiology, while for functional CAP the pharmacological and, rarely, psychological intervention is more difficult but should be done discreetly and tailored to the needs of the child.
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PMID:Chronic abdominal pain in children. 2092 8