Diarrhea caused by bacteria

This is an automatically translated article.

The article was professionally consulted by Specialist Doctor I Le Nguyen Hong Tram - Gastroenterologist - Department of Medical Examination & Internal Medicine - Vinmec Nha Trang International General Hospital

1. What is bacterial diarrhea?

Acute bacterial diarrhea is the passage of loose or watery stools more than 3 times in 24 hours that can lead to severe dehydration and systemic infection. Common types of bacteria that cause diarrhea include:
Escheriachia Coli (E.coli) Shigella Campylobacter Jejuni Salmonella enterocolitica Cholera Vibrio cholerae These bacteria, after entering the digestive tract, will produce enterotoxins or directly destroy intestinal mucosal cells, causing disturbances in the absorption of water and electrolytes in the small intestine, poor absorption of water by the colon, causing diarrhea.

2. Symptoms of Bacterial Diarrhea

Symptoms of infectious diarrhea are often quite diverse depending on the cause, which can be mentioned as:
Fever Fatigue, headache Nausea, vomiting Frequent loose stools, watery mucus stools, sometimes When blood is present Dehydration Symptoms of dehydration The patient's degree of dehydration will be classified as follows:
Mild dehydration: The patient has no clinical signs of dehydration, consciousness is completely awake, eyes are not sunken , not thirsty, dry lip skin, light pale; Rapid pulse, normal urine. Moderate dehydration : Irritated, struggling; patient is thirsty, eyes sunken slightly; dry lips, cold dry skin, very fast pulse, oliguria, cold limbs. Severe dehydration: The patient is lethargic, comatose; manifestations are very thirsty, loss of skin elasticity, very sunken eyes, dry, blue-green skin that is hard to catch, low blood pressure, anuria and cold all over the body, In addition, depending on the causative agent, the clinical Patients will have the following differences:
Diarrhea caused by dysentery: Often high fever, intermittent abdominal pain with tenesmus, loose stools with bloody mucus. Diarrhea caused by cholera: Usually rapid onset within 24 hours, severe diarrhea, watery stools like rice washing but no fever, no straining and no abdominal cramps. Diarrhea caused by staphylococcal toxin: The disease incubates for 1-6 hours, patients often have nausea, vomiting, watery diarrhea but no fever. Diarrhea caused by Salmonella is often associated with high fever, vomiting, and abdominal pain.

3. How is bacterial diarrhea treated?

Principles of treatment of acute bacterial diarrhea are:
Assess dehydration and restore electrolytes Antibiotic treatment according to the cause Symptomatic treatment In which the recommendation of the Ministry of Health on antibiotic treatment caused by pathogens as follows:
Diarrhea caused by E.coli: Quinolone antibiotics are preferred, taken orally or infused for 5 days. Diarrhea caused by Clostridium difficile: Metronidazol or Vancomycin. Diarrhea caused by Shigella or Salmonella: Quinolone preferred. Diarrhea caused by cholera: Quinolone, Ciprofloxacin or Azithromycin group. Treatment of dehydration according to the degree of dehydration of the patient, usually mild, patients will be rehydrated with oral Oresol solution while moderate or higher (or patients cannot drink) need rehydration. intravenously with Ringer lactate solution.
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