Tropical sprue

Tropical sprue is not a chronic condition. Though longer courses of treatment will likely be required, symptoms should improve within 2 to 4 weeks of the initiation of treatment with folic acid and antibiotics. Lack of improvement should be discussed with the physician. No long-term monitoring or surveillance is required once the treatment course has been completed. There are no lifestyle or dietary modifications that have been shown to alter the course of tropical sprue. Though household outbreaks have been described, this is not a clearly contagious process, and therefore no precautions regarding spread of the disease to others need to be adopted.