An open, controlled study of two non-absorbable antibiotics for the oral treatment of paediatric infectious diarrhoea.

Forty-nine children in need of antibacterial treatment for a severe episode of bacterial diarrhoea were consecutively treated with either an oral paediatric suspension of rifaximin (100 mg every six hours for an average of four days: 24 patients), or paromomycin (125 mg every six hours for an average of four days: 25 patients). Stools (number and form), enteritis symptoms and signs, and intolerance manifestations were all monitored on each day of treatment. A stool culture was performed on the first available stool after enrolment and after the end of treatment to monitor the drugs' antibacterial activity.