Giardiasis with protein-losing enteropathy.

Generalized edema and ascites were the main presenting features of giardiasis in a 3-year-old boy. Hypoalbuminemia, jejunal villous atrophy, Giardia lamblia in the duodenal aspirate, and abnormal gastrointestinal protein loss were present before therapy with metronidazole. Eradication of parasites resulted in complete clinical, histological, and biochemical remission. Giardiasis must now be included in the etiology of protein-losing enteropathy.