Rifaximin versus Ciprofloxacin for the Treatment of Traveler's Diarrhea: A Randomized, Double-Blind Clinical Trial

Rifaximin is a poorly absorbed rifamycin derivative under investigation for treatment of infectious diarrhea. Adult students from the United States in Mexico and international tourists in Jamaica were randomized to receive either rifaximin (400 mg twice per day) or ciprofloxacin (500 mg twice per da...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical infectious diseases 2001-12, Vol.33 (11), p.1807-1815
Main Authors: DuPont, Herbert L., Jiang, Zhi-Dong, Ericsson, Charles D., Adachi, Javier A., Mathewson, John J., DuPont, Margaret W., Palazzini, Ernesto, Riopel, Lise M., Ashley, David, Sandoval, Francisco Martinez
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Anti-Infective Agents - adverse effects
Anti-Infective Agents - therapeutic use
Antibacterial agents
Antibacterials
Antibiotics. Antiinfectious agents. Antiparasitic agents
Antimicrobials
Biological and medical sciences
Ciprofloxacin - adverse effects
Ciprofloxacin - therapeutic use
Diarrhea
Diarrhea - diagnosis
Diarrhea - drug therapy
Diarrhea - microbiology
Diseases
Double-Blind Method
Feces - microbiology
Female
Humans
Kinetics
Major Articles
Male
Medical sciences
Microbial Sensitivity Tests
Middle Aged
Pathogens
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Pretreatment
Rifamycins - adverse effects
Rifamycins - therapeutic use
Salmonella
Shigella
Species
Symptoms
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Rifaximin is a poorly absorbed rifamycin derivative under investigation for treatment of infectious diarrhea. Adult students from the United States in Mexico and international tourists in Jamaica were randomized to receive either rifaximin (400 mg twice per day) or ciprofloxacin (500 mg twice per day) for 3 days, following a double-blinded model, from June 1997 to September 1998. A total of 187 subjects with diarrhea were studied. Time from initiation of therapy to passage of last unformed stool was comparable for those receiving rifaximin or ciprofloxacin (median, 25.7 hours versus 25.0 hours, respectively). There was no significant difference in the proportion of subjects in the 2 groups with respect to clinical improvement during the first 24 hours (P = .199), failure to respond to treatment (P = .411), or microbiological cure (P = .222). The incidence of adverse events was low and similar in each group. Rifaximin is a safe and effective alternative to ciprofloxacin in the treatment of traveler's diarrhea.
ISSN:1058-4838
1537-6591
DOI:10.1086/323814