Intestinal infections have become quite common nowadays because of growing adulteration in food, microscopic parasites and other problems. Infections caused in the intestine are mostly identified after a certain time gap till the infection has already spread. Therefore it is very important to beware of intestinal infections and different causes of it. Today we will have a look at similar intestinal infection which is caused by a parasite and could cause various health problems in your body. We will be discussing about symptoms, causes and conditions for giradiasis parasite infection.
What is Giardiasis?
We spoke to Dr. Indra Kumar Rastogi, Consultant Of Gastroenterology in Vozart Healthcare Hospital, Kanpur. He told that this is a parasite infection which occurs in the small intestine because of parasite called Giardia Lamblia. It has the ability to spread rapidly between people by contact. It can spread because of eating contaminated food, drinking contaminated water and through your pets.
Once you get infected with giardiasis then it becomes hard to determine the cause behind it. It affects a number of people but is less treated because not many people know about this parasite infection. Most of the people that get infected with giardiasis is because of poor sanitary conditions around them.
Symptoms of Giardiasis
Exposure to this parasite is the reason behind having this intestinal infection. Symptoms of this parasitic infection generally take up 10 days to weeks to show up. Some symptoms may vary from every individual but here are some common symptoms which you might experience if you have this disease
- Fatigue
- Nausea
- Diarrhea
- Loss of appetite
- Vomiting
- Bloating
- Abdominal cramps
- Headaches
- Gas in stomach
What is Cause of having Giardiasis?
The parasite which infects the person in this disease is basically found in animal and human feces. Giardiasis could be very well caused if you are surrounded by an environment which contains feces, and then there are highly chances of this infection. Another important factor is the period and lifecycle of this parasite.
It can survive outside the host body for several days, which increases the tendency to get infection. Giardiasis could spread through three modes of transmission- food, water and soil. Infection through soil is seen less but if you have pets, then those pets can carry the infection. So when you pat or play with your pet it goes on the surface of your body and then inside when you touch other parts of your body. Hence it could be particularly dangerous in that way.
Contaminated water is one of the popular reasons, majority of people assume that contaminated water can only infect you when you drink it. Reality is that contaminated water in any form could infect you with giardiasis whether you are inside pool, lakes, river or any kind of water body. Hence you need to take special care of your sanitization.
One of the reasons that it is not that popular likes other bacterial or viral infection because it gets killed in the heat. This also gives us the clue that to prevent parasitic infection from infecting your small intestine causing problems. For this you need to dry clothes in sunlight, boil the water before drinking, heat the food well and bath with warm water to reduce chances of infection.
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Treatment for Giardiasis
Giardiasis can remain in the host body for several weeks and cause problems in bowel movements, stomach aches, cramps and many other problems. However it does go by its own in most cases when the parasite is dead. Therefore there aren’t many treatments for this intestinal infection.
Anti-parasitic drugs- In most cases doctors recommend you to take anti-parasitic drugs to clear up the infection in the intestine. This is a much better method than leaving it to heal on its own because it can reduce the inflammation caused by parasite in the small intestine.
Antibiotic drug- Another drug which is used to treat this condition is metronidazole. This is an antibiotic which is given for 4-5 days initially to reduce inflammation and affect of giardiasis in the body. It could lead a metallic taste in your mouth and also causes nausea for a few days as a result.
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Paromomycin- This is another drug which is given, this is especially for pregnant women who have this parasitic infection. This is because this drug has lower chances of affecting birth of the child. However this should also be avoided until birth, to prevent any complications.
Other drug treatments include Tinidazole, which is an advanced form of metronidazole. This is given to patients who have high rate of infection in the intestine. It is a high dose drug which needs to be given only by doctor’s advice. For children, Nitazoxanide is a popular choice because it is given in syrup form and needs to be taken for 3 days only to treat Giardiasis.
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