Giardia lamblia : what is this? what to do?

Many young travellers to India who are not over scrupulous with hygiene may come back with a little, not so nice “present”:  GIARDIA[LAMBLIA], a parasitic, intestinal infection.

This causes often mild or more severe [chronic] diarrhoea with weight loss.

The diarrhoea is often typically more of a problem in the morning.

Of course their me may be abdominal discomfort,bloating etc.

A typical effective treatment -since long- is a one time dose of 4 tablets of Tinidazole.[in Israel : Fasigyn or Protocide[absolute not drop of alcohol before and after the treatment for 24 hours or more, so no echinacea or any tincture containing alcohol,as this combination can make quite sick!]

As I worked in the tropics [Suriname] I had quite a bit of experience with this treatment.

There is really no good reason[ since long] anymore for doctors to prescribe

Flagyl [metronidazol] for gardia  ,which has far more side effects.

Since  years I am also using now and then only a herbal treatment.

This E-mail is meant to bring to your attention that even after treatment, complaints can continue if one does not treat the often [temporarily] intestinal villi atrophy caused by giardia [no lactose: cow or goats milk,cottage cheese for a while]

Quite important also is to add extra vitamin A to the regime as giardia thrives in a low vitamin A environment and often also causes this [by the diarrhoea and loss of fat soluble vitamins.....vicious circle]

Zinc ,folic acid etc may all be necessary as well.

Simply: think about this all when you have a longer lasting diarrhoea  and

especially if you are an enthusiastic traveller!