Enterocolitis
Medical condition
Enterocolitis is an inflammation of the digestive tract, involving enteritis of the small intestine and colitis of the colon. It may be caused by various infections, with bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, or other causes. Common clinical manifestations of enterocolitis are frequent diarrheal defecations, with or without nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, fever, chills, and alteration of general condition. General manifestations are given by the dissemination of the infectious agent or its toxins throughout the body, or, most frequently, by significant losses of water and minerals, the consequence of diarrhea and vomiting.
01Signs and symptoms
Symptoms of enterocolitis include abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, fever, and loss of appetite.
02Cause
Among the causal agents of acute enterocolitis are:
- bacteria: Salmonella, Shigella, Escherichia coli (E. coli), Campylobacter etc.
- viruses: enteroviruses, rotaviruses, norovirus, adenoviruses
- fungi: candidiasis, especially in immunosuppressed patients or who have previously received prolonged antibiotic treatment
- parasites: Giardia lamblia (with a high frequency of infestation in the population, but not always with clinical manifestations), Balantidium coli, Blastocystis homnis, Cryptosporidium (diarrhea in people with immunosuppression), Entamoeba histolytica (produces amoebic dysentery, common in tropical areas).
03Diagnosis
Types
Specific types of enterocolitis include:
- necrotizing enterocolitis (most common in premature infants)
- pseudomembranous enterocolitis (also called "Pseudomembranous colitis")
04Treatment
Treatment depends on aetiology e.g. Antibiotics such as metronidazole for bacterial infection, antiviral drug therapy for viral infection and anti-helminths for parasitic infections
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Enterocolitis”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
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