Rifaximin to Rescue? Antibiotic Helps Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Says Study

(CBS) People with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) may have reason to be a little less irritable, according to a new study of the antibiotic rifaximin.

Researchers, led by a team at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, gave the drug or a placebo to patients three times a day for two weeks.

Forty-one percent reported "adequate relief" of IBS symptoms up to four weeks after treatment. Forty percent found relief from bloating. The placebo numbers were 32 and 30 percent.

Patients receiving the drug also reported improvements in abdominal pain relief and watery stool. The effects of the drug regiment could last up to 10 weeks, said researchers.

If the research holds, its very good news for IBS patients who have thus far labored on without many treatment options.

According to the NIH, as many as 20 percent of adult Americans suffer from the condition, characterized by cramping, abdominal pain, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea. It's more common in women and starts before 35 about half of the time.

For some patients, the symptoms are embarrassing and debilitating.  The causes are not yet known, but the effectiveness of rifaximin, an antibiotic often prescribed for traveler's diarrhea, suggests a bacterial infection may be to blame.

The study was conducted by several university hospitals including Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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