Bacterial Flora Of Upper Small Bowel In Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome

The bacterial flora of small intestine of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) was evaluated. Patients were divided into 3 groups:a) IBS with diarrhoea (Group I), (b) IBS with predominantly constipation (Group II) AND (c) IBS with alternating diarrhoes and constipation (group III). One patient of group I had significant colonization of jejunal fluid in group I, while 50% of group II patients had significant jejunal bacterial colonization. The study indicates that alteration of bowel mobility may play a role in the enhanced bacterial colonization in IBS patients.