WITHDRAWN: Drugs for treating giardiasis.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

There can be a high rate of recurrence of disease after initial drug treatment for giardiasis. These drugs also have a range of adverse effects.

OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this review was to assess the effects of drug treatments for giardiasis.

SEARCH STRATEGY:

We searched the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group Specialized Register, CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Current Contents, and reference lists of articles.

SELECTION CRITERIA:

Randomised and quasi-randomised trials of drug therapy for giardiasis compared with placebo or another drug.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS:

Two reviewers independently assessed trial quality and extracted data.

MAIN RESULTS:

Thirty-four trials were included. Only one trial was without serious methodological flaws. Compared with placebo, drug treatment was associated with an improved cure rate (odds ratio 11.51, 95% confidence interval 2.29 to 57.98). Metronidazole treatment longer than three days had a better parasitological cure rate than other long treatment courses (odds ratio 2.41, 95% confidence interval 1.31 to 4.44), but there was significant heterogeneity between the trials. Available evidence has not detected a difference in cure between single dose therapy and longer treatment courses (odds ratio 0.33, 95% confidence interval 0.08 to 1.34). Within the single dose regimens, the available evidence did not demonstrate a difference in parasitological cure rate between tinidazole and other short therapies (odds ratio 3.39, 95% confidence interval 0.95 to 12.04), but had a higher clinical cure rate (odds ratio 5.33, 95% 2.66 to 10.67).

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS:

A single dose of tinidazole appears to give the highest clinical cure rate for giardiasis with relatively few adverse effects.

• Authors: J O M Zaat, T H G Mank, W J J Assendelft
• Journal: The Cochrane database of systematic reviews (Cochrane Database Syst Rev) Issue 2 Pg. CD000217 (Jul 18 2007) ISSN: 1469-493X [Electronic] England
• PMID: 17636622 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review, Systematic Review)

Chemical References

• Antiprotozoal Agents
• Tinidazole
• Metronidazole
• Furazolidone

Topics

• Antiprotozoal Agents (therapeutic use)
• Furazolidone (therapeutic use)
• Giardiasis (drug therapy)
• Humans
• Metronidazole (therapeutic use)
• Tinidazole (therapeutic use)