Treatment of refractory paediatric giardiasis using secnidazole plus albendazole: a case series.

Giardia lamblia, the aetiological agent of human giardiasis, is a frequently identified protozoan infection of the upper small intestine. It mainly affects children and has a wide range of clinical manifestations, from asymptomatic carriage to acute or chronic diarrhoea with dehydration, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, excessive flatulence and weight loss. Standard treatment for giardiasis is commonly with 5-nitroimidazole (5-NI) compounds, or nitazoxanide; however, some individuals experience treatment failure.

Chloroquine: An Old Drug with New Perspective Against Giardiasis.

The occurrence of treatment failures to first-line treatment for giardiasis, one of the most widespread although neglected parasitic disease, has long been recognised. Nowadays, it starts to represent a great challenge to clinicians, especially in endemic countries. This requires the introduction of new drug interventions, but the development of novel drugs is a time and money consuming effort with most of the compounds never reaching the market.