European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences 2005; 9: 217-222

Treatment of small intestine bacterial overgrowth

M. DI STEFANO, E. MICELI, A. MISSANELLI, G.R. CORAZZA
I Department of Internal Medicine, University of Pavia, IRCCS “S. Matteo” Hospital – Pavia (Italy)

Abstract. – Removal of the predisposing loss, abdominal pain, together with bloating
condition, appropriate nutritional support to and flatulence, although asymptomatic cases,
reintegrate both caloric and vitamin require-
mostly among the elderly 2, have been de-
ments and suppression of the contaminating
bacterial flora represent the main of goals of the scribed. An impairment in nutritional status
treatment of small intestine bacterial over- is therefore frequently present and several
growth. Generally, the polymicrobic nature of nutritional deficits have been described3-9.
contaminating flora requires the administration Malabsorption in SIBO is considered the
of wide-spectrum antibiotics, but as yet we don’t consequence of abnormalities occurring
know which is the best pharmacological ap- mainly in the intraluminal environment. In
proach, in terms of drug, dosage and duration of
therapy.
fact, the excessive number of intraluminal
There is no conclusive information regarding bacteria interfere with the absorption
the most effective therapy that should be used. process. However, in some cases, the pres-
This paper reviews the efficacy of the different ence of bacterial species capable of more ag-
therapeutic approaches used. gressive adhesion to small bowel epithelium
Key Words: is probably the cause of direct damage to the
Small intestine bacterial overgrowth, Therapy, Hy-
absorptive surface, in particular in blind loop
drogen breath test, Rifaximin, Non absorbable antibi- syndrome10,11.
otics, Diarrhoea, Intestinal gas production. Generally speaking, it is not easy to discrim-
inate between the relative role of the predis-
posing condition and that of bacterial over-
growth in the pathogenesis of malabsorption.
In fact, gastrectomy, ileo-colonic fistula and
short bowel may be causes of malabsorption
Introduction regardless of the concomitant presence of bac-
terial overgrowth. The pathophysiological role
The treatment of small intestine bacterial of bacteria is carried out by their ability to me-
overgrowth (SIBO) is a clinical challenge for tabolize nutritional substances, such as carbo-
physicians, as data contained in the peer re- hydrates, lipids and proteins, normally ab-
view literature don’t offer conclusive infor- sorbed in the small bowel. This involves two
mation on the most effective therapeutic ap- types of problems: first, the nutritional defect,
proach. In this paper, the available data are due to the lack of caloric substrates available
reviewed in order to suggest some possible for absorption; second, a series of effects car-
approaches. ried out by the products of bacterial metabo-
lism, such as increased carbohydrate fermenta-
tion12, responsible for the presence of symp-
Clinical and Pathophysiological Aspects toms like flatulence, bloating, abdominal col-
icky pain and abdominal distention; increased
SIBO is due to the presence of more than levels of Short Chain Fatty Acid (SCFA), re-
106 colony forming units per ml of intestinal sponsible for an irritation of the colonic wall,
aspirate and/or colonic type species 1. This acidification of both bowel lumen and feces
condition is generally accompanied by malab- and, finally, diarrhoea accompanied by ab-
sorption and the consequent clinical syn- dominal pain; reduced mucosal disaccharidase
drome is characterised by major symptoms, activity due to its inactivation by proteases se-
such as diarrhoea, steatorrhea and weight creted by anaerobic bacteria13.

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 M. Di Stefano, E. Miceli, A. Missanelli, G.R. Corazza

Aims of the Therapy Table II. Conditions predisposing to small intestine

bacterial overgrowth.
The aims of the therapy of SIBO are listed
Anatomical defects
in Table I. First, physicians should take into Blind loops
consideration the appropriateness of remov- Strictures
ing the predisposing condition. The impor- Fistula
tance of the role of these conditions (Table Diverticula
II) was shown by the demonstration of SIBO Gastric resections
Ileo-colonic resections
presence in around three-quarters of patients
with malabsorption symptoms associated Functional defects
Impaired motility causing intestinal stasis
with a predisposing condition 14. Their re- Ageing
moval, however, is not always possible. In pa- Reduced gastric acid secretion
tients who have undergone surgical recon- Reduced activity of intestinal immune system
struction with loss of gastric acid filter or ileo-
cecal valve, a complete recovery of this syn-
drome is never possible and bacterial over-
growth will always represent a clinical prob- restoration of normal intestinal motility may
lem to be taken into consideration. On the represent an effective approach. Prokinetic
other hand, in patients with stenosizing or fis- agents have been shown to improve intestinal
tulizing Crohn’s disease, the timing of surgery motility15,16 and the use of this therapeutic ap-
is subject to complex evaluation and, there- proach has been shown to be effective: in pa-
fore, relapsing symptoms of SIBO syndrome tients with scleroderma, low-dose octreotide
often have to be dealt with. proved to be useful in the reduction of bacte-
Appropriate nutritional support is also rial overgrowth 17. Unfortunately, cisapride
mandatory. The aim of this therapeutic mea- was recently removed from the market due to
sure should be the reintegration of both cardiotoxicity, and, apart from an ery-
caloric and vitamin requirements, often defec- thromycine analog without antibiotic effects
tive in these patients. The need for nutritional which showed no effects in rats18, no alterna-
support is caused both by the predisposing tive drugs are available and, consequently,
condition and by the malabsorption syndrome. the role of these agents in the therapy of SI-
Moreover, the suppression of the contaminat- BO still needs to be explored. Preliminary
ing bacterial flora represents the main aim. data suggest that 5HT1A agonist buspirone19
and 5HT4 partial agonist tegaserod20 induce
increased intestinal motility in healthy volun-
Therapeutic Approaches teers. These new therapeutic approaches may
represent an effective alternative, but no data
Prokinetics are available as yet.
In some patients with SIBO due to intesti-
nal stasis secondary to motility defects, the Antibiotics
The polymicrobic nature of contaminating
flora requires the use of wide-spectrum an-
tibiotics 21,22. The choice of the drug is fre-
Table I. Aims of the therapy of small intestine bacterial
overgrowth.
quently empirical because small bowel aspi-
ration and culture are impractical and if per-
Nutritional Support formed will show with certainty multiple or-
Minerals ganisms with different levels of antibiotic sen-
Vitamins sitivity. However, the most important reason
Caloric requirements for the use of wide-spectrum antibiotics is
Removal of predisposing conditions due to the lack of information: we do not
Surgery know which of them should be eliminated to
Prokinetics (?)
achieve an improvement of symptoms21. Sev-
Suppression of contaminating flora eral antibiotics have been shown to be effec-
Antibiotics
Probiotics (?) tive (Table III). However, as very obvious
from this Table, available data are very fre-

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 Treatment of small intestine bacterial overgrowth

Table III. Antibiotic regimens used in small intestine bacterial overgrowth.

Drug Dose N. Predisposing conditions Responders

Tetracycline
Kahn et al, 1966 250 mg q.i.d. 4 Sclerodermia 75%
Goldstein et al, 1961 250 mg q.i.d. 1 Billroth II +
Gorbach et al, 1969 250 mg q.i.d. 1 Ileocolonic anastomosis in Crohn’s disease –
Bjorneklett et al, 1983 NA 3 Small bowel diverticulosis 100%
Di Stefano et al, 2000 333 mg t.i.d. 11 GI surgery, intestinal stasis 27%
Chloramphenicol
Goldstein et al, 1961 500 mg q.i.d. 1 Billroth II +
Lincomycin
Bjorneklett et al, 1983 NA 1 Radiation fibrosis -
Gorbach et al, 1969 500 mg t.i.d. 2 Small bowel diverticulosis 50%
Ampicillin
Goldstein et al, 1970 250 mg q.i.d. 1 Diabetic autonomic neuropathy +
Metronydazole
Bjorneklett et al, 1983 NA 6 Radiation fibrosis, small bowel diverticulosis 83%
Cotrimoxazole
Elsborg et al, 1977 400 mg b.i.d 1 Small bowel dicerticulosis +
Norfloxacin
Attar et a,l 1999 400 mg b.i.d. 10 GI surgery or intestinal stasis 30%
Amoxicillin-clavulanic acid
Attar et al 1999 500 mg t.i.d. 10 GI surgery or intestinal stasis 50%
Rifaximin
Trespi et al, 1999 400 mg t.i.d. 8 Chronic pancreatitis and Billroth II 100%
Di Stefano et al, 2000 400 mg t.i.d. 10 GI surgery or intestinal stasis 70%

quently based on the description of single which proved to be effective at low dosage in
cases among reports of more numerous se- one case report32.
ries. Although anaerobes are responsible for If contaminating flora is sensitive to the an-
the main metabolic alterations, tetracy- tibiotic administered, in most patients a sin-
clines23,24,25 have been used for a long time gle course of 7 to 10 days of therapy is able to
and with satisfactory results, in spite of their induce an improvement of symptoms 33; on
poor activity against these bacteria3,22,26. A the contrary, in others a quick relapse of
rapid improvement of symptoms was evident symptoms is evident, but can be treated with
in most cases after a single therapeutic course the same antibiotic treatment3,29; in these cas-
of 10-14 days at a 250 mg qid dose3. Aerobe es, good results can be achieved with inter-
suppression induced by tetracyclines proba- mittent antibiotic treatment3.
bly did not render the intraluminal microcli- A recent study determined the bacterial
mate favourable to anaerobes, due to the in- populations contaminating the upper gut in
creased bioavailability of oxygen21. However, SIBO patients and their antibiotic suscepti-
it was recently reported that about 60% of bility. Amoxicillin-clavulanic acid and cefox-
patients do not respond to this treatment27. itin were efficient on > 90% of anaerobic
Metronydazole 3,25 , ampicillin 28 and ery- strains, while aminopenicillins, cephalo-
thromycin29 have been used as an alternative sporins and cotrimoxazole were efficient on
to tetracycline, while other active drugs microaerophilic populations. Erythromycin,
against anaerobes, such as lincomycin30,25,31 clindamycin and rifampicin were not effi-
and chloramphenicol3,24, due to the high risk cient. Data on metronidazole and fluoro-
of severe side effects, are no longer used. quinolones are not available34.
Neomycin was shown to be of little efficacy Rifaximin, a non-absorbable derivative of
when used alone in this condition31. Little in- rifamycin, showed a promising bactericidal
formation is available on cotrimoxazole, action against both aerobes and anaerobes,

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 M. Di Stefano, E. Miceli, A. Missanelli, G.R. Corazza

such as bacterioides, lactobacilli and scribed. While on one hand these results con-
clostrides35,36. The development of resistance firm the frequent need for several courses of
against this antibiotic is a frequent event. antibiotic therapy in SIBO patients, on the
However, the withdrawal of therapy permits other they support the hypothesis that rifax-
rapid disappearance of the phenomenon, imin may represent a good choice on the ba-
probably due to the incapacity of resistant sis of its excellent tolerability.
strains to permanently colonize the human In a cohort of 145 patients with Crohn’s
intestine 37 . Bacterial resistance does not disease the presence of SIBO was confirmed
therefore represent an obstacle to subsequent by hydrogen breath test after glucose admin-
courses of rifaximin. Controlled clinical trials istration in 20% of patients48. Both metron-
demonstrated rifaximin’s efficacy in adult and idazole and ciprofloxacin proved to be effec-
pediatric patients with infectious diarrhea38,39, tive in the management of bacterial over-
hepatic encephalopathy40, post-surgical com- growth and breath hydrogen excretion nor-
plications41 and colonic diverticulosis42. On malized in 86% and 100% of patients, respec-
the contrary, there are very few reports on tively. In the metronidazole group, one pa-
the efficacy of rifaximin in the treatment of tient out of 15 withdrew after two days be-
SIBO43-45. cause of nausea and, together with the other
The most important evidence is probably two patients resistant to metronidazole, was
offered by a recent double-blind, randomized successfully treated with ciprofloxacin. After
trial which showed a higher therapeutic effect a 1-year period of follow-up, only one patient
of rifaximin in comparison to tetracycline in a presented a recurrence of bacterial over-
cohort of SIBO syndrome patients44: in par- growth. This study suggests, therefore, that
ticular, rifaximin administration produced a ciprofloxacin is more effective than nor-
significant reduction of breath hydrogen lev- floxacin in the treatment of SIBO and con-
els at fasting, a peak of hydrogen excretion firms that side effects represent a major prob-
and cumulative breath hydrogen excretion af- lem for the therapy with metronidazole.
ter an oral dose of 50 g of glucose. A normal- Moreover, in 50 consecutive patients with
ization of the test results was evident in 70% various malabsorption syndromes, 42% of je-
of the sample studied. junal aspirates showed a bacterial count
A significant improvement of symptom greater than 10 5 CFU/ml. Streptococcus
severity without side effects was also evident species and Escherichia coli were the com-
after rifaximin administration but not after monest gram positive and negative isolated
tetracycline, thus reinforcing the validity of bacteria, respectively, and proved to be more
the therapeutic approach adopted. Rifaximin sensitive to quinolones than to tetracycline,
has proved to be effective in the treatment of ampicillin, erythromycin and cotrimoxazole
49
gas-related symptoms: in fact, in a recent pa- . Unfortunately, no data are available on ri-
per, a 7-day course of therapy significantly faximin.
improved the severity of symptoms in a co-
hort of patients suffering from functional ab- Probiotics
dominal complaints46. This effect should also Apart from the already mentioned negative
be important in patients with SIBO syn- study dealing with probiotics and SIBO thera-
drome: it could probably become more evi- py47, another paper evaluated the effect of
dent if courses of therapy longer than one two different Lactobacillus strains, namely L.
week are prescribed, in view of the interfer- casei and L. acidophilus strains cereal. The ef-
ence on the therapeutic efficacy due to the fect of these two strains was compared vs.
presence of the predisposing conditions. placebo. A short-term improvement of the
Another recent controlled trial showed a number of bowel movements and breath hy-
good therapeutic effect of both amoxicillin- drogen excretion was achieved by probiotic
clavulanic acid and norfloxacin in SIBO pa- treatment, suggesting that probiotics may rep-
tients 47. However, a rapid relapse of diar- resent an important tool in the treatment of
rhoea just a few days after the withdrawal of SIBO only if prolonged courses are adopted50.
antibiotics was evident. In this paper, the effi- In conclusion, the pivotal topic in the ther-
cacy of probiotics in SIBO patients was also apy of SIBO syndrome is probably represent-
evaluated, but no significant effect was de- ed by the careful evaluation of clinical poly-

220
 Treatment of small intestine bacterial overgrowth

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