Disclosed herein is the use of a rifamycin class antibiotic in the preparation of a medicament for the treatment of bowel disease (BD) that provides a durability of antibiotic response in a patient, wherein the medicament is formulated for administration at a dose comprising 1650 mg/day for 14 days to a subject in need thereof, followed by removing the subject from treatment after the 14 days so as to result in a durability of response that comprises between about 12 weeks and about 24 weeks of adequate relief of symptoms, wherein the bowel disease comprises one or more of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), uncontrolled diarrhea-associated Irritable Bowel Syndrome (dIBS), Crohn's disease, traveler's diarrhea, ulcerative colitis, enteritis, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, chronic pancreatitis, pancreatic insufficiency, colitis, diverticular disease, hepatic encephalopathy, or pouchitis, and wherein the rifamycin class antibiotic preferably comprises rifaximin.
