Add Parasites to the Causes of Postinfectious Irritable Bowel Syndrome!

After a bout of infectious gastroenteritis, some patients develop irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which can persist for years. Now, researchers have examined the prevalence of postinfectious IBS and chronic fatigue among patients who had contracted giardiasis during an outbreak in Norway.

Three years after the outbreak, questionnaires were sent to 1252 patients with verified Giardia lamblia infection and 3598 matched controls from the general population; responses were received from 65% and 31% of these two groups, respectively.

IBS was reported in a higher percentage of giardiasis patients than controls (46% vs. 14%; adjusted relative risk, 3.4), as was chronic fatigue (46% vs. 12%; ARR, 4.0), and the combination of IBS and chronic fatigue (…