title: Clinical pilot study: efficacy of triple antibiotic therapy in Blastocystis positive irritable bowel syndrome patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Blastocystis species are common human enteric parasites. Carriage has been linked to Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Treatment of Blastocystis spp. with antimicrobials is problematic and insensitive diagnostic methods and re-infection complicate assessment of eradication. We investigated whether triple antibiotic therapy comprising diloxanide furoate, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole and secnidazole (TAB) given to diarrhoea-predominant IBS (D-IBS) patients positive for Blastocystis would achieve eradication.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a longitudinal, prospective case study 10 D-IBS Blastocystis-positive patients took 14 days of diloxanide furoate 500 mg thrice daily, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole 160/80 mg twice daily and secnidazole 400 mg thrice daily. Faecal specimens were collected at baseline, day 15 and 4 weeks after completion of TAB. Specimens were analysed using faecal smear, culture and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the 16 SSU rRNA. Patients kept a concurrent clinical diary.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Six (60%) patients cleared Blastocystis spp. after TAB, including three who had failed previous therapy. Subtypes detected were ST3 (60%), ST4 (40%), ST1 (20%) and ST7, 8 (10%); four patients had mixed ST infections. Serum immunoglobulin A (IgA) levels were low in 40% of patients. Higher rates of Blastocystis clearance were observed in patients symptomatic for less than a year (Mann-Whitney, p = 0.032, 95% confidence) with no associations found with age, previous antibiotic therapy, faecal parasite load, ST, IgA level or clinical improvement.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Clearance of Blastocystis spp. was achieved with TAB in 60% of D-IBS patients, an improvement over conventional monotherapy. Higher clearance rates are needed to facilitate investigation of the relevance of this parasite in clinically heterogenous IBS.
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, Queensland, Australia ; Toowoomba Gastroenterology Clinic, Suite 105 Medici Medical Centre, 15 Scott Street, Toowoomba 4350, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Robyn
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nagel
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, Queensland, Australia ; Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Australia.
authors.forename: Helle
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bielefeldt-Ohmann
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Science, The University of Melbourne, Parkville 3052, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Traub
keywords: Blastocystis; Irritable bowel syndrome; PCR; Therapy