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Posts Tagged ‘Giardiasis’

Treatment

Without treatment to treat Giardia infection, infection is likely to eventually go alone. However, the treatment is useful for anyone who has symptoms and can also help when no symptoms because it can prevent the spread of infection to others. This is especially true for children and people who prepare or serve food.

Can be used multiple medicines to treat Giardia infection, including metronidazole (Flagyl), tinidazole (Tindamax), quinacrine hydrochloride (mepacrine), albendazole (Albenza), furazolidone (Furoxone), nitazoxanide (Alinia) and bacitracin. Read the rest of this entry »

There is no vaccine to prevent giardiasis and medication is not recommended to prevent infection. The best way to prevent it is to continue to travel right habits and follow proper sanitary measures.

Travelers should be especially careful to avoid eating contaminated food and water. It is safer to eat peeled or cooked products, cooking food destroys parasites and cysts. Read the rest of this entry »

Diagnosis

Your doctor will ask about your medical history, if I could have had contact with contaminated water during camping or hiking, and if your water is from wells. If the patient is a child attending day care, the doctor will ask about any recent diarrhea outbreak in the nursery and also review the patient’s symptoms.

Finally, the diagnosis is made by analyzing fecal matter in search of Giardia antigen, a protein produced by the parasites of G. lamblia, or by identifying cysts of G. lamblia or parasites in stool samples. Read the rest of this entry »

Up to two thirds of people infected with the organism does not have any symptoms. When symptoms occur, they can occur suddenly and be obvious or may worsen slowly. Symptoms usually begin one to three weeks after exposure and include:

* Watery diarrhea
* Abdominal cramps
* Inflammation (swelling)
* Nausea with or without vomiting
* Gas (flatulence)
* Floating stools and often smelly
* Weight loss Read the rest of this entry »

Giardiasis is an intestinal illness caused by infection with the parasite Giardia lamblia, who lives in contaminated water. Although the disease occurs more often in developing countries, giardiasis is also a frequent cause of diseases by water pollution in the United States. A person can be infected with Giardia and not realize it until the infection is diagnosed and treated.

In developing regions, it is common that 20% of the population of these countries have ongoing Giardia infections. In the U.S., only 1 or 2 in 10,000 people have Giardia in a year, but the infection is in about 1 in 3 people who have prolonged diarrhea symptoms if they have recently traveled to a developing country. Read the rest of this entry »