ArticleGut pathogens2014
Clinical pilot study: efficacy of triple antibiotic therapy in Blastocystis positive irritable bowel syndrome patients.
Article in Gut pathogens, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Systematic Review about the Efficacy of Antiparasitic Agents in the Treatment of Blastocystis Species.Acta parasitologica · 2025Pooled it
- Blastocystis hominis; Friend or Foe.Integrative medicine (Encinitas, Calif.) · 2024Review
- Advances in the axenic isolation methods ofParasitology · 2024Review
- Two-day enema antibiotic therapy for parasite eradication and resolution of symptoms.World journal of gastroenterology · 2020Article
- Molecular characterization of Blastocystis sp. in captive wild animals in Qinling Mountains.Parasitology research · 2017Article
- Comparison of faecal microbiota in Blastocystis-positive and Blastocystis-negative irritable bowel syndrome patients.Microbiome · 2016Article
- Immunopathological assessments of human Blastocystis spp. in experimentally infected immunocompetent and immunosuppresed mice.Parasitology research · 2016Article
- Contribution of Blastocystishominis subtypes and associated inflammatory factors in development of irritable bowel syndrome.Parasitology research · 2016Article
- Blastocystis in Health and Disease: Are We Moving from a Clinical to a Public Health Perspective?Journal of clinical microbiology · 2016Review
- Granular Formation during Apoptosis in Blastocystis sp. Exposed to Metronidazole (MTZ).PloS one · 2016Article
- Blastocystis specific serum immunoglobulin in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) versus healthy controls.Parasites & vectors · 2015Article
- Efficacy of Nitazoxanide, Nitazoxanide-Garlic Combination and Tinidazole in Treatment ofIranian journal of parasitologyArticle
- Laboratory diagnosis of Blastocystis spp.Tropical parasitologyArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBlastocystis 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.
methodsIn 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.
resultsSix (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.
conclusionsClearance 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.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.