ABSTRACT
Aspirin-mediated prostaglandin inhibition has been suggested in symptomatic relief of diarrhoea. The aim of the study was to evaluate in a controlled double-blind trial if a short-term treatment with aspirin could limit the clinical course of acute diarrhoea in adults. Seventy patients attending the Department of Infectious Diseases, General Hospital of Malmö, Sweden, with acute diarrhoea due to different causal agents, received either 1500 mg aspirin per day (n = 33) or placebo (n = 37) for two days. No difference was observed in the duration of diarrhoea, frequency and consistency of stools during treatment or subjective general discomfort. The previously reported effect of aspirin on acute diarrhoea could not be confirmed in this clinical study.
Subject(s)
Aspirin/therapeutic use , Diarrhea/drug therapy , Acute Disease , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Double-Blind Method , Female , Humans , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
A prospective study of acute diarrhoea was performed during 15 months 1981/1982 and included 731 patients and 240 controls. 43% had been infected abroad. A cluster of travellers with bacterial pathogens was diagnosed in July-August. The following pathogens were found: Campylobacter (18%), enterotoxigenic E. coli (6%), Salmonella spp. (5%), rotavirus (4%), Yersinia enterocolitica (3%), Giardia lamblia (3%), Shigella spp. (2%), Clostridium difficile (2%), enteroviruses (2%) and Entamoeba histolytica (less than 1%). More than 90% of the bacterial or parasitic enteropathogens were detected in the first stool sample. Only 10% of the patients needed hospital treatment and for 97% oral fluids were sufficient. The median duration of diarrhoea was 9 days. No fatal cases occurred and only 2 cases of chronic bowel disease were detected.
Subject(s)
Diarrhea/microbiology , Acute Disease , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use , Campylobacter/isolation & purification , Diarrhea/complications , Diarrhea/therapy , Feces/microbiology , Female , Fever/etiology , Fluid Therapy , Hospitalization , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Prospective Studies , Seasons , Sweden , Time Factors , Travel , Urban Health , Vomiting/etiologyABSTRACT
Nalidixic acid and lactulose, respectively, were compared with placebo in a controlled double-blind study in 43 patients with bacteriologically verified shigellosis. All the strains were susceptible to nalidixic acid. Treatment with nalidixic acid resulted in cure in 72%, which was a significantly better result than with placebo (cure in 21%).