Amoebic dysentery - Treatments
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If you have amoebic dysentery, your diarrhoea may go away without treatment. But if the amoebas that made you ill are still living in your bowels (intestines), you can get diarrhoea again. Treatment can help clear up your symptoms and kill the amoebas in your bowels.
Key messages about treatments for amoebic dysentery
- Taking drugs called antibiotics can get rid of your diarrhoea and clear up the infection in your bowels.
- You'll usually be given two drugs if you have amoebic dysentery. You first take a drug called metronidazole, then switch to another drug called diloxanide furoate.[1]
- The diarrhoea you get if you have amoebic dysentery can make your body lose too much water. So it's important to drink lots of fluids.
- It's important to wash your hands thoroughly after going to the toilet and before preparing food. This can stop amoebic dysentery spreading to other people.
Treatments that are likely to work
Antibiotics (tinidazole and metronidazole)
Tinidazole and metronidazole are both antibiotics. These drugs kill the tiny organisms (germs) that can make you ill, including amoebas. You'll need a prescription from a doctor for these drugs.
You usually take them as tablets, but metronidazole is also available as a drip (also called an IV or intravenous infusion).[1] You may be given drugs by a drip if you're vomiting and you can't swallow tablets.
Doctors in the UK usually prescribe metronidazole (brand name Flagyl) for amoebic dysentery.[1] You take it three times a day for five days. But if the amoebas in your bowels have spread to your liver, you'll need to take metronidazole for longer.
You'll probably be given another drug called diloxanide furoate after you've finished taking metronidazole. You take diloxanide furoate for 10 days.
You may be given tinidazole (brand name Fasigyn) instead of metronidazole. You usually take tinidazole once or twice a day for about a week.[1]
There's quite a lot of research showing that taking tinidazole can help if you have amoebic dysentery. It can get rid of your symptoms and help kill the amoebas in your bowels.[2] Taking metronidazole can also help.[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] But taking metronidazole may not help as many people as tinidazole does.[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
- Tinidazole cures more than 75 percent of the people who take it.[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] In one study, everyone who took tinidazole was cured.[10]
- Metronidazole cures between 40 percent and 80 percent of people taking it.[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] But in one study, everyone who took metronidazole was cured.[10]
Some of the studies said people were cured when their symptoms went away. Other studies checked people's stools to see whether all the amoebas had been killed by the treatment, before saying they were cured.
Both tinidazole and metronidazole can have side effects. But in studies, people who took metronidazole were more likely to get side effects than people who took tinidazole.[3] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Up to 50 percent of people taking tinidazole said they got side effects. But up to 75 percent of the people taking metronidazole got side effects.
The side effects of both drugs are similar. They include:[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
- Nausea and vomiting
- Pain in your abdomen and diarrhoea
- A bitter metallic taste in your mouth or a tongue that looks coated (furry)
- Weakness or dizziness
- Dark-coloured urine or pain while urinating
- Loss of appetite
- Blurred vision or headaches.
You may also get a rash or not be able to sleep.
One study found that the side effects people got with metronidazole were worse.[4]
Other treatments
We haven't looked at the research on these treatments in the same way we have for the other treatments on our site. To read more, see . But we've included them here because they're sometimes used to treat amoebic dysentery and you may have questions about them.
Diloxanide furoate
Diloxanide furoate is a drug that's designed to kill amoebas. You take it as a tablet. It's sometimes used for people who have amoebas in their bowels but haven't become ill.[1] Treating these people can stop them spreading the infection to anyone else.
Diloxanide furoate is used along with metronidazole. You'll take metronidazole for five days to 10 days, and then you'll take diloxanide furoate for another 10 days.[1]
Diloxanide furoate doesn't have as many side effects as metronidazole.[1] But some people get:
- Wind
- Vomiting
- Itchy skin
- A rash.
References
- British National Formulary. Amoebicides. Section 5.4.2. BNF 54. September 2007. British Medical Association and Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. Available at http://www.bnf.org (accessed on 8 November 2007).
- Chunge CN, Estambale BBA, Pamba HO, et al. Comparison of four nitroimidazole compounds for treatment of symptomatic amoebiasis in Kenya. East African Medical Journal. 1989; 66: 724-727.
- Singh G, Kumar S. Short course of single daily dosage treatment with tinidazole and metronidazole in intestinal amoebiasis: a comparative study. Current Medical Research and Opinion. 1977; 5: 157-160.
- Swami B, Lavakusulu D, Sitha Devi C. Tinidazole and metronidazole in the treatment of intestinal amoebiasis. Current Medical Research and Opinion. 1977; 5: 152-156.
- Misra NP, Gupta RC. A comparison of a short course of single daily dosage therapy of tinidazole with metronidazole in intestinal amoebiasis. Journal of International Medicine Research. 1977; 5: 434-437.
- Misra NP. A comparative study of tinidazole with metronidazole as a single daily dose for three days in symptomatic intestinal amoebiasis. Drugs. 1978; 15 (supplement 1): S19-S22.
- Misra NP, Laiq SM. Comparative trial of tinidazole and metronidazole in intestinal amebiasis. Current Therapeutic Research, Clinical and Experimental. 1974; 16: 1255-1263.
- Joshi HD, Shah BM. A comparative study of tinidazole and metronidazole in treatment of amoebiasis. Indian Practice. 1975: 295-302.
- Awal ARMA, Ali S. Tinidazole in the treatment of symptomatic intestinal amoebiasis. Current Therapeutic Research, Clinical and Experimental. 1979; 26: 962-966.
- Mathur SN, Itigi A, Rao PD, et al. Evaluation of tinidazole in treatment of amoebiasis. Indian Medical Gazette. 1976; 361-364.
- Panggabean A, Sutjipto A, Aldy D, et al. Tinidazole versus ornidazole in amebic dysentery in children (a double blind trial). Paediatrica Indonesiana. 1980; 20: 229-235.
Glossary
- diarrhoea
- Diarrhoea is when you have loose, watery stools and you need to go to the toilet far more often than usual. Doctors say you have diarrhoea if you need to go to the toilet more than three times a day.
- liver
- Your liver is on the right side of your body, just below your ribcage. Your liver does several things in your body, including processing and storing nutrients from food, and breaking down chemicals, such as alcohol.
- intravenous infusion
- When a medicine or a fluid, such as blood, is fed directly into a vein, it's called an intravenous infusion (or IV). To give you an intravenous infusion, a nurse, technician or a doctor places a narrow plastic tube into a vein (usually in your arm) using a needle. The needle is then removed and the fluid is infused (or dripped) through the tube into the vein.
© BMJ Publishing Group Limited ("BMJ Group") 2007. All rights reserved
This information does not replace medical advice. If you are concerned you might have a medical problem please ask your Boots pharmacy team in your local Boots store, or see your doctor.
