Delhi belly antibiotic used to treat travellers’ stomach bugs could help ease pain of IBS
There could be a light at the end of the tunnel for people enduring the discomfort of irritable bowel syndrome after research revealed antibiotics could tackle the condition.
There is no cure for IBS, which affects one in five people at least once in their lives. Treatment options have been limited to dietary changes and laxatives.
But a U.S. study has shown for the first time that the painful condition – which typically causes abdominal discomfort, bloating, diarrhoea and constipation – could be relieved by administering antibiotics.
Researches at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles used rifaximin, a drug widely used in the U.S. for stomach concerns picked up by people travelling overseas.
Over a three-month period, 1,200 people with IBS were randomly prescribed either rifaximin or a placebo, with 40 per cent of those who took the drug reporting significant relief from their symptoms, compared with 30 per cent of the others.
The study’s findings could bolster theories that IBS may be frequently caused by bacteria.
‘For years, the treatment options for IBS patients have been extremely limited,’ said Cedars-Sinai’s Mark Pimentel.
‘IBS does not respond well to treatments currently available, such as dietary changes and fibre supplements alone.
‘With this antibiotic treatment, the patients feel better, and they continue to feel better after stopping the drug.
‘This mean that we did something to strike at the cause of the disease.’
The results were welcomed by experts in the field, though some counselled that antibiotic resistance could develop if rifaximin was widely used.
The study is published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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