Dysentery

Diarrhea or Dysentery?

In common parlance, the terms dysentery and diarrhea are often used interchangeably; in reality, dysentery represents a particularly severe form of diarrhea, because it is complicated by the emission of blood and mucus, accompanied by the typical liquid stools; often, defecation is painful and diarrheal discharges cannot be controlled by the will.

Causes

For further information: Causes and Symptoms of Dysentery

Dysentery is an "infection of the intestinal tract which, as such, recognizes various etiological agents; the best known are the protozoan Entamoeba histolytica, responsible for amoebic dysentery, and Shighella bacteria (such as Shighella dysenteriae), cause of bacillary dysentery or shighellosis.

Amoebiasis is a rare disease in Europe, but typical of tropical areas where hygiene standards are scarce; the parasite that causes it, in fact, spreads through water or food contaminated with infected feces. Countries where hygienic conditions are precarious (see also traveler's diarrhea) The symptoms of amoebiasis are rather subtle (they can arise several months after the infection) and include diarrhea, indigestion, weight loss and anemia.

Bacillary dysentery, similar to the previous one, is transmitted through the ingestion of contaminated food, but also and above all through direct contact with infected people. For this reason, epidemics are frequent in overcrowded places, especially if accompanied by poor hygienic conditions. symptoms are more evident and occur within six days of infection; dysentery, which in mild cases gives way to simple diarrhea, is accompanied by symptoms of varying severity, such as fever, nausea, abdominal pain and tenesmus (painful spasm of the anal sphincter with an urgent urge to defecate).

Dysentery can also be the expression of certain diseases, such as ulcerative colitis (which is clinically similar to the acute form of shighellosis), distal colon and rectal cancer, diverticulitis of the colon or polyposis. Among all, infectious dysentery (in addition to the microorganisms listed so far we also remember the Giardia lamblia, bacteria of the genus Salmonella and some nematodes), however, remains by far the most common form.

Treatment and therapy

The treatment of dysentery is aimed on the one hand at the prevention of dehydration - to be carried out through the replenishment of fluids by mouth or, in the most serious cases, intravenously - while on the other it is based on antibiotic therapy for the eradication of infectious agents (after having demonstrated the presence in the stool).

Lactic acid bacteria are also sometimes prescribed, but their effectiveness in the presence of dysentery remains debated. On the other hand, antidiarrheal drugs that inhibit intestinal motility are contraindicated, because they can prolong the course of the disease.

For further information: Diet for Dysentery "

Composition of the WHO / UNICEF Oral Rehydration Solution

Sodium chloride (NaCl)

3,5

Glucose

20,0

(or cooking sugar)

40,0

Sodium bicarbonate

2,5

Potassium chloride (KCl)

1,5