Antibiotic treatment comparison in patients with diarrhea

Background: Infectious diarrheal disease is the most frequent reason of diarrhea around the world and it is the leading cause of death amongst children. Vancomycin has been regarded as the drug of choice for management of C. difficile-related colitis. However, outbreaks of infection with vancomycin resistant enterococci have led to restriction in its use. The present study was conducted with the aim to determine the efficacy of different antibiotics in managing diarrhea cases. Materials and methods: The study was conducted in the Department of medicine for a period of 8 months. All the subjects were randomized into three groups, receiving metronidazole, vancomycin and teicoplanin respectively. No additional drugs or probiotics were administered to the patients so that the exacting efficacy of the drug can be established. Both clinical and laboratory evaluations were used to assess and monitor the adverse events. Chi square test and student t test were used to analyze the differences between the groups. Probability value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The study included a total of 90 subjects. There were 30 subjects who received metronidazole, 32 subjects received vancomycin and 28 subjects received Teicoplanin. The mean age of the subjects was 46 +/- 8 years. The mean temperature in all the three groups was 36.8+/-0.8, 39.1+/-0.3 and 37.2+/-0.4 respectively. Clinical cure was seen amongst 93.3% subjects receiving metronidazole, 93.7% subjects receiving vancomycin and 96.4% subjects receiving teicoplanin. There was no significant difference between the groups as the p value was more than 0.05. Conclusion: From the present study, all the three drugs have been found equally efficacious in managing cases of diarrhea.