Gastroenterocolitis disease on its own. The most important factor when treating gastroenteritis is the replacement of fluids and electrolytes that are lost because of the diarrhea and vomiting. Antibiotics will not be effective if the cause of gastroenteritis is a viral infection. Doctors usually do not recommend antidiarrheal medications (e.g., Loperamide) for gastroenteritis because they tend to prolong infection, especially in children. Parasitic infections are difficult to treat. A number of drugs are available once the condition has been identified. Removing part of the colon or needle aspiration of abscesses in liver may be required. Depending on the cause of the
Number needed to treat Number needed to treat The number needed to treat (NNT) is an epidemiological measure used in communicating the effectiveness of a health-care intervention, typically a treatment with medication. The NNT is the average number of patients who need to be treated to prevent one additional bad outcome (e.g. the number of patients that need to be treated for one of them to benefit compared with a control in a clinical trial). It is defined as the inverse of the absolute risk reduction, and computed as formula_1, where formula_2 is the incidence in the treated (exposed) group, and formula_3 is the