Giardia

[thaipod]

Has anyone ever contacted Giardia in Thailand ? . My family was in Thailand in April and my daughters family has just recently caught giardia which is a intestinal parasite which has made my son in law very ill , vomiting, diarrhea, loss of apppetite loss of weight and generally ill for neally 3 weeks now.

His local GP said he must of picked it up in Thailand but seems to be too long 8 months ago . the normal incubation period is normally around 2 weeks.

Has anyone have any ideas on a good treatment plan as it seems to be difficult to knock over and from what I have heard a long recovery time.

[zzdocxx]

Here's the quick version but the picture doesn't totally add up to me, first of all, they could have caught it elsewhere, second, I can't imagine their GP doesn't know how to treat it.

Anyway, copied from the net, (and best wishes for a quick recovery):

Giardia lamblia infection in humans is frequently misdiagnosed. Accurate diagnosis requires an antigen test or, if that is unavailable, an ova and parasite examination of stool. Multiple stool examinations are recommended, since the cysts and trophozoites are not shed consistently. Given the difficult nature of testing to find the infection, including many false negatives, some patients should be treated on the basis of empirical evidence; treating based on symptoms.[13]

Human infection is conventionally treated with metronidazole, tinidazole or nitazoxanide. Although Metronidazole is the current first-line therapy, it is mutagenic in bacteria and carcinogenic in mice, so should be avoided during pregnancy.[3] It has not directly been linked to causing cancer in humans, only in other mammals, therefore appears safe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giardia_lambl...t_and_diagnosis

BTW Metronidazole is commonly known by the trade name "Flagyl".

[bina]

flagyl as posted; majority of people just get it and keep it (the giardia) it flares up occassionally but usually the flare ups are not too bad, as people build up a sort of resistance to what it causes symptomatically. old people and very young children obvioiusly suffer and it can get them in to hospital; or people with other stomach problems... some people stay as carriers,and some dont even know they have it.

i dont know, here, many many people get it and the symptomatic part alsts about a week and thats it... but that is consistent with salamonellas also. maybe here we are just hardier or more resistant in general than the average westerners who arent as exposed to so many parasites, bacterias and whatever in the water as we are (or used to be. our water system has been sanitized to western standards now for many years)

bina

israel

[sbk]

My mother got giardia in the US, hadn't been in Thailand for years, so it seems that your daughter's GP is rather unaware of the prevalence of giardia in his country.

[SiamSuzi]

Obviously an uninformed doctor. Giardia is actually quite common all over the world. Flagyl is the brand name of metronidazole. You can obtain it from a doctor or on ebay because it's sold as a medicine for parasites in pet fish.

My mother got giardia in the US, hadn't been in Thailand for years, so it seems that your daughter's GP is rather unaware of the prevalence of giardia in his country.