I have Crohns disease and take 1gm Pentasa (Mexalizine) 3 times daily.
I am in the Czech Republic and have been prescribed Entizol
(metronidazolum) for something called Vibria. I am having a lot of
difficulty finding out about this second medication or the condition
(Vibria) which it is aiming to treat. I do not know how to price this
info either.. Any information would help

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 18 Aug 2004 04:58 PDT

There is a type of micro-organism called "vibrio" which can cause
diarrhea. An antibiotic drug whose generic name is metronidazole is
sold under the trade name "Entizol" in Poland (and quite possible
elsewhere in eastern Europe).

Vibrio is a term for a wide class of infection agents:

http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic2375.htm

Do you think vibrio is what you're being treated for? If so, what kind
of information are you needing about vibrio or about metronidazole?

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Clarification of Question by heyphil-ga on 18 Aug 2004 07:38 PDT

The vibria I am referring to is a vaginal condition that my girlfriend
has. I have been prescribed Entizol as a precaution. I am awaiting
urology tests on myself. I am concerned A, about transmission and b,
about the compatibility of the Mezalazine I take for my Crohns, which
is an intestinal anti-inflammatory, and the Entizol. I have regular
Diarrhea from my Crohns andwould be keen to know of any other symptoms
that may help me identify Vibrio.

Vibria is plural to vibrio.

i know nothing of crohn's, but i can tell you that metronidazole
should not be used with even a tiny amount of alcohol - alcohol plus
metronidazole is very toxic - in fact it is used to treat alcoholics
(or at least used to be, in the form of antabuse).  i can't say
anything definite about metro.. interacting with your Crohn's
medicine.  if i told you my best guess is not to worry about that
particular interaction, i would be giving specific medical advice.

by the way my personal trust in medical care in czech republic and
poland is very low, sorry.

Actually, antabuse is a different medication - disulfiram.  However,
metronidazole has a similar effect.  Warning labels will often say it
is a disulfiram-like effect.  Using alcohol while you are on
metronidazole or shortly after you stop, can cause severe vomiting and
other problems.  Generally won't kill you, but may make you wish you
were dead.

There is a vaginal infection called Campylobacter fetus, used to be
called Vibrio fetus, which was more recognized in the veterinary
community, but has become more recognized as a human pathogen also, so
this may be what it is.  Males are often asymptomatic, but can
reinfect a partner if not also treated, which is why you would be
treated.

I do not find anything which says there is an interaction between the
two meds, which doesn't mean that there can't be, only that it hasn't
been described.  I would definitely make the physician prescribing
these meds aware and ask if there is any known reaction, but it will
most likely be safe.

I think it is quite unlikely that you will have an adverse reaction to
these two drugs. There could even be a positive effect, since
mesalazine and metronidazole are sometimes prescribed together for the
treatment of Crohn's disease:

"There is strong evidence linking diet with Crohn's disease but the
mechanism and nature of this link remains unclear. ... Mesalazine and
metronidazole are the drugs for which most supportive evidence is
available. The individual trials of mesalazine have generally proved
inconclusive and meta-analyses have been needed to demonstrate a
significant beneficial effect (approximately halving the relapse rate
at 1 year). More recent large controlled studies performed after the
meta-analyses however have again proved negative and the benefit is
probably more modest than the meta-analyses suggested. Metronidazole,
20 mg/day for the first 3 months after surgery, has been shown to
reduce relapse by just over one-third with a beneficial effect that
was surprisingly sustained throughout a 3 year follow-up period... A 3
month course of oral metronidazole plus continued maintenance with
oral mesalazine can be justified on current evidence but further
studies are needed."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9704162&dopt=Citation