Giardia

Introduction: Giardia

Giardia: Giardia lamblia Giardia lamblia (intestinalis) is a single celled animal, i.e., a protozoa, that moves with the aid of five flagella. In Europe, it is ... more about Giardia.

Giardia: Contagious parasitic digestive infection. More detailed information about the symptoms, causes, and treatments of Giardia is available below.

Symptoms of Giardia

• Mild digestive symptoms - in mild cases
• Digestive symptoms
• Acute diarrhea
• Inflammation of digestive tract
• Fever

See full list of 27 symptoms of Giardia

Medical Textbooks Online about Giardia

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Wrongly Diagnosed with Giardia?

• Misdiagnosis of Giardia
• Underlying causes of Giardia (possibly wrongly diagnosed)

Misdiagnosis and Giardia

Chronic digestive conditions often misdiagnosed: When diagnosing chronic symptoms of the digestive tract, there are a variety of conditions that may be misdiagnosed....read more »

Intestinal bacteria disorder may be hidden cause: One of the lesser known causes of diarrhea is an imbalance of bacterial in the gut, sometimes called intestinal imbalance. The digestive system contains a...read more »

Antibiotics often causes diarrhea: The use of antibiotics are very likely to cause some level of diarrhea in patients. The reason is that antibiotics kill off not only "bad"...read more »

Food poisoning may actually be an infectious disease: Many people who come down with "stomach symptoms" like diarrhea assume that it's "something I ate" (i.e. food poisoning). In fact, it's more...read more »

Mesenteric adenitis misdiagnosed as appendicitis in children: Because appendicitis is one of the more feared conditions for a child with abdominal pain, it can be over-diagnosed (it can, of course,...read more »

Celiac disease often fails to be diagnosed cause of chronic digestive symptoms: One of the most common chronic digestive conditions is celiac...read more »

Chronic digestive diseases hard to diagnose: There is an inherent difficulty in diagnosing the various types of chronic digestive diseases. Some of the better known possibilities are peptic ulcer, colon cancer, ...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Giardia

Causes of Giardia

Read more about causes of Giardia.

More information about causes of Giardia:

• Giardia as a complication caused by other conditions

Treatments for Giardia

• Bed rest
• Anti-parasite medications
• Metronidazole
• Mepacrine
• Hygiene measures to avoid contagion

Read more about treatments for Giardia

Videos for Giardia

Patient Surveys for Giardia

• Patient Profile Survey
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• Survey about the symptoms of your Giardia
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Prognosis for Giardia

Prognosis for Giardia: Normally illness lasts for 1 to 2 weeks, but there are cases of chronic infections lasting months to years. Chronic cases, both those with defined immune deficiencies and those without, are difficult to treat. (Source: FDA Bad Bug Book)

More about prognosis of Giardia

Reseach about Giardia

Visit our research pages for current research about Giardia treatments.

Clinical Trials for Giardia

The US based website ClinicalTrials.gov lists information on both federally and privately supported clinical trials using human volunteers.

Some of the clinical trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for Giardia include:

• Parasitic Infections of the Gastrointestinal Tract - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)

Read more about Clinical Trials for Giardia

Prevention of Giardia

Prevention information for Giardia has been compiled from various data sources and may be inaccurate or incomplete. None of these methods guarantee prevention of Giardia.

• Avoid contaminated water
• Sterilize water
• Avoid foods washed in water

Read more about prevention of Giardia

Statistics for Giardia

• Medical statistics for Giardia
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for Giardia
• Death and Mortality statistics for Giardia
• Society statistics for Giardia

Stories from Users Related to Giardia

• Giardia treatments?
• natural treatment for giardia

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User Interactive Forums

Read about other experiences, ask a question about Giardia, or answer someone else's question, on our message boards:

• I can not get a diagnosis. Please help.
• Tell us your medical story.
• Share your misdiagnosis story.
• What is the best treatment for this?
• See all the forums.

Article Excerpts about Giardia

FDA Bad Bug Book (Excerpt)

Giardia lamblia Giardia lamblia (intestinalis) is a single celled animal, i.e., a protozoa, that moves with the aid of five flagella. In Europe, it is sometimes referred to as Lamblia intestinalis. (Source: FDA Bad Bug Book)

FDA Bad Bug Book (Excerpt)

Giardia duodenalis, cause of giardiasis (GEE-are-DYE-uh-sis), is a one-celled, microscopic parasite that can live in the intestines of animals and people. It is found in every region throughout the world and has become recognized as one of the most common causes of waterborne (and occasionally foodborne) illness. (Source: FDA Bad Bug Book)

Giardiasis: DPD (Excerpt)

Giardiasis (GEE-are-DYE-uh-sis) is a diarrheal illness caused by Giardia intestinalis (also known as Giardia lamblia), a one-celled, microscopic parasite that lives in the intestine of people and animals. The parasite is passed in the stool of an infected person or animal. The parasite is protected by an outer shell that allows it to survive outside the body and in the environment for long periods of time. During the past 2 decades, Giardia has become recognized as one of the most common causes of waterborne disease (drinking and recreational) in humans in the United States. The parasite is found in every region of the United States and throughout the world. (Source: excerpt from Giardiasis: DPD)

Definitions of Giardia:

A species of parasitic protozoa that attaches itself to the intestinal mucosa and feeds on mucous secretions. The organism is roughly pear-shaped and motility is somewhat erratic, with a slow oscillation about the long axis. Considered for many years to be non-pathogenic and often found in completely asymptomatic individuals, there is presently strong evidence for its pathogenic potential. - (Source - Diseases Database)

A suspected cause of diarrhea in humans - (Source - WordNet 2.1)

Giardia is listed as a "rare disease" by the Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This means that Giardia, or a subtype of Giardia, affects less than 200,000 people in the US population.
Source - National Institutes of Health (NIH)