CHRONIC NONSPECIFIC DIARRHEA IN INFANTS AND CHILDREN TREATED WITH DIIODOHYDROXYQUINOLINE

Abstract

In a preliminary study, 40 infants and children with chronic nonspecific diarrhea, a syndrome characterized primarily by continuous or intermittent unexplained mild diarrhea and often variously diagnosed as celiac disease, starch intolerance, or intestinal allergy, were treated with diiodohydroxyquinoline. Good responses, manifested by subsidence of diarrhea in 1 to 4 days, ability to tolerate a full diet and relief of tenesmus were observed in 29 of 40 cases treated. There were six therapeutic failures and response was equivocal in five cases. Therapeutic trials consisting of a period of response to diiodohydroxyquinoline with subsequent relapse following withdrawal of medication was observed in 24 cases with three consecutive successful trials in one patient, two trials in each of 10 patients and one trial in each of 13 patients. A double-blind placebo study in 41 subsequent cases of chronic nonspecific diarrhea resulted in a therapeutic correlation of 53% with 22 cases responding to drug but relapsing on placebo. There were 18 failures including 12 patients who did not respond to drug or placebo, 2 patients who responded to placebo, and 4 who responded to drug but did not relapse on placebo. The results seem to indicate that diiodohydroxyquinoline is useful as a nonspecific agent which may effect some fundamental mechanism common to nonspecific diarrheas.