title: A comparative study of furazolidone and placebo in addition to oral rehydration in the treatment of acute infantile diarrhea.
abstract: Between July and October 1987 an outpatient study of 191 children with acute diarrhea was undertaken in two rural communities in Mexico. Through a double-blind randomization we compared the efficacy of a combination therapy of furazolidone, 7.5 mg/kg/day, plus standard oral rehydration therapy (ORT) (96 patients) versus a placebo plus ORT (95 patients), each given for 5 days. Diarrheal stool samples were collected from all patients before therapy. By means of a two-vial transport media system the samples were sent to a university laboratory and examined for viral, bacterial, and parasitic organisms. The most commonly isolated organisms were enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (13%) and Giardia lamblia (13%). Patients who received furazolidone plus ORT showed a greater reduction in duration of diarrhea when compared with those receiving placebo plus ORT (63.4 h versus 71.44 h). There was also a trend toward shorter duration of diarrhea in patients with Giardia who were treated with furazolidone/ORT compared with Giardia patients in the placebo/ORT group. When fecal leukocytes were present in the stool, the furazolidone/ORT-treated patients had a significantly higher percentage of clinical cures (79% versus 54%, p = 0.03) and an overall shorter duration of diarrhea (62.0 h versus 80.6 h, p = 0.055) at the end of 5 days of therapy than did the placebo/ORT-treated group.
authors.affiliation: Depto Farmacologia, Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara.
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Okhuysen
authors.forename: H L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: DuPont
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Flores Lopez
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Perez Castell
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Mathewson
mesh_terms: D003968:Diarrhea, Infantile / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005440:Fluid Therapy; D005664:Furazolidone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005873:Giardiasis / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D015532:Rehydration Solutions / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D015532:Rehydration Solutions; D005664:Furazolidone