Infectious diarrhea. Which culprit? What strategy?

The patient with diarrhea is generally looking for prompt relief, not a prolonged diagnostic workup. In many cases effective treatment can be initiated after careful review of the clinical symptoms and of the patient's recent travel or other activities. Stool examination, sigmoidoscopy, or other studies may be necessary for definitive diagnosis or in refractory cases. Drugs are useful to combat many of the causative organisms, but in mild, self-limited infections, supportive therapy may suffice. Indeed, antimotility agents are contraindicated in some types of infectious diarrhea.