Traveler's diarrhea
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Review article in the June 24 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine recommends use of bismuth subsalicylate "if after careful counseling parents still wish a child to use a prophylactic drug" for traveler's diarrhea. For adult prophylaxis, Herbert Dupont, MD, and Charles Ericsson, MD, University of Texas Medical School, recommended antibacterial drugs as well as lactobacillus preparations and bismuth subsalicylate, which, they note, has "few side effects." For symptomatic treatment, the authors note that "antibacterial drugs are more effective in curing intestinal infection, but their onset of action is slower than that of bismuch subsalicylate or loperamide." FDA rejected P&G's request for a traveler's diarrhea indication for its bismuch subsalicylate product Pepto Bismol in April 1992 citing insufficient data. McNeil's loperamide product Imodium A-D was approved for that indication in November 1992 ("The Tan Sheet" March 1, In Brief)...