title: An up-date on Giardia and giardiasis.
abstract: Giardia intestinalis is a non-invasive protozoan parasite infecting the upper small intestine causing acute, watery diarrhea or giardiasis in 280 million people annually. Asymptomatic infections are equally common and recent data have suggested that infections even can be protective against other diarrheal diseases. Most symptomatic infections resolve spontaneously but infections can lead to chronic disease and treatment failures are becoming more common world-wide. Giardia infections can also result in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and food allergies after resolution. Until recently not much was known about the mechanism of giardiasis or the cause of post-giardiasis syndromes and treatment failures, but here we will describe the recent progress in these areas.
authors: Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, BMC, Box 596, Uppsala University, SE-751 24 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors: Elin
authors: E
authors: Einarsson
authors: Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, BMC, Box 596, Uppsala University, SE-751 24 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors: Showgy
authors: S
authors: Ma'ayeh
authors: Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, BMC, Box 596, Uppsala University, SE-751 24 Uppsala, Sweden. Electronic address: staffan.svard@icm.uu.se.
authors: Staffan G
authors: SG
authors: Svärd
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000469:parasitology; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000469:parasitology; D005872:Giardia / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D005873:Giardiasis / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000469:parasitology; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D006801:Humans; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000469:parasitology; D017211:Treatment Failure