Tropical Diarrhea in Vietnam — A Controlled Study of Cholestyramine Therapy

NONSPECIFIC diarrhea has been a major health problem for United States military personnel in Vietnam; little is known of its pathogenesis, and responses to treatment often are inconsistent.1 2 3 4 Malabsorption of bile acids has been implicated as a cause of diarrhea in other conditions — for example, with ileal disease, resection or bypass5 , 6 or in the irritable-bowel syndrome.7 Cholestyramine, which binds bile acids, is effective symptomatic treatment in some cases.8 The possibility that bile acids are involved in other diarrheal conditions prompted us to compare the responses of tropical diarrhea to cholestyramine or placebo under double-blind conditions in 31 patients who . . .