Treatment of small intestine bacterial overgrowth and related symptoms by rifaximin.

The treatment of small intestine bacterial overgrowth should address different aims: the removal of the predisposing condition, guarantee of adequate nutritional support to reintegrate both caloric and vitamin requirements and, obviously, suppression of the contaminating bacterial flora, which represents the major goal. The polymicrobic nature of contaminating flora suggests the administration of wide-spectrum antibiotics, but until now there has been no conclusive information on the most effective therapeutic approach. In this paper, the efficacy of the different therapeutic approaches used is reviewed.