Diagnosis of Giardia lamblia infection as a cause of diarrhoea.

Retrospective analysis of the records of 31 patients diagnosed as having Giardia lamblia infection in our hospital over a five-year period suggests that the condition is not considered often or early enough. Adult patients particularly "suffer" more, having to endure more investigations (mean of 16) than do symptomatic children (mean of 6) before a diagnosis is made. The length of time to reach the diagnosis from first referral further supports this view, being almost seven weeks in adults and three weeks in children--both groups having had symptoms for an average of seven months before referral.