Infectious diarrhea in the aged: controlled clinical trial of rifaximin.

The effectiveness and tolerance of a new non-absorbable antibiotic, was evaluated on 121 aged patients affected with severe bacterial diarrhea. A double-blind design vs placebo was followed. The drug (three 200 mg tablets/die for 7 days) proved effective in reducing the number of daily discharges and the seriousness and duration of symptoms, as compared to placebo. Its antibacterial activity was furthermore confirmed by coprocultures: only 16/75 bacterial strains were still detectable after therapy, against 33/70 in the placebo group. Tolerance to rifaximin, both local and systemic, proved to be excellent.