[Diarrhea in returning travellers (etiology, diagnosis and therapy)]

Abstract

International tourism is constantly expanding and traveller's diarrhea has become a common disease. Although traveller's diarrhea may already have ceased after return, more and more general practitioners are confronted with patients complaining of GUT-symptoms associated with the journey. To manage these patients the precise knowledge of the etiology of traveller's diarrhea and the forms leading to chronic diarrhea is mandatory. This review deals with the etiology of diarrhea after returning home from tropical/subtropical areas and gives special emphasis on adequate diagnosis and treatment. It also points to the importance of parasites as cause of chronic traveller's diarrhea. Parasitic disease needs more often antibiotic treatment than infectious diarrhea due to bacterial agents. We summarize the etiology, the diagnostic and therapeutic approach.