The objective of this study is to determine whether in the setting of primary health care it is effective to treat with metronidazole returning travellers with gastrointestinal symptoms and B. hominis in the stool or not.
Prevalence of B. hominis is between 30-50% in developing countries. Many travellers visit developing countries and are therefore at risk to be infected by this parasite. It's frequent that travellers return from developing countries with gastro-intestinal symptoms and approximately 10% of them have B. hominis as the sole parasite identified in the stools. Some anti-infective drugs, including metronidazole, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and nitazoxanide, have shown to have activity against B. hominis, but there is still controversy about the pathogenic potential of B. hominis and there is no consensus about the indications for treatment. It is hypothesised that metronidazole is more effective than placebo in returning travellers with gastrointestinal symptoms and B. hominis as the sole intestinal parasite identified in the stool.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
QUADRUPLE
Enrollment
200
3x500 mg/day for 10 days
3x1 tablet per day for 10 days
Travel Clinic, Department of Ambulatory Care and Community Medicine, University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland
Lausanne, Canton of Vaud, Switzerland
Improvement of gastro-intestinal symptoms
The improvement of the following symptoms will be evaluated: * Presence of unusually soft or unformed stools in the last 3 days (yes or no) * Average number of stools per day in the last 3 days * Maximal abdominal pain in the last 3 days on a scale from 0-10 * Bloating in last 3 days on a scale from 0-10 * Flatulence in last 3 days on a scale from 0-10
Time frame: 10-14 days after treatment with Metronidazol
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