Study: Antibiotic May Help IBS
Posted on: Wednesday, 18 October 2006, 09:00 CDT
A non-absorbable antibiotic -- one that stays in the gut -- may help irritable bowel syndrome, say researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
The study, which appears in the Annals of Internal Medicine, is the first to demonstrate benefits from antibiotic use even after the course of treatment has ended, supporting previously published research that identified small intestine bacterial overgrowth as a cause of the disease, according to Dr. Mark Pimentel.
Researchers found that rifaximin not only led to significant improvement in global IBS symptoms during the 10 days it was administered, but also that the benefit continued for the 10 weeks of follow-up when no antibiotic was given, showing sustained benefit, says Pimentel.
The fact that the benefit of the targeted antibiotic continued even after it was stopped provides evidence that the antibiotic was acting on a source of the problem: excess bacteria in the gut, says Pimentel. This finding offers a new treatment approach -- and a new hope -- for people with IBS.
Source: United Press International
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