What is Diarrhoea?

This article tries to explain what diarrhoea is and how it can affect your travel experience. Continue reading if you want to know more about diarrhoea or commonly called bali belly

Diarrhoea is a passing of watery stools three or more times a day and sometimes leads to dehydration. Diarrhoea is caused by a bacteria or viruses. E. coli or Escherichia coli is one of the bacteria that cause diarrhoea. E. coli is a bacterium that can survive with or without air or we called facultative anaerobes.  This bacterium lives on the intestines of people or animal.  E. coli can produce blood in the stool because of the toxins it releases. The symptoms of these bacteria are nausea and vomiting, abdominal cramps, and sometimes bloody stool. There are two types of diarrhoea, the long term called chronic diarrhoea and the short term called acute diarrhoea. If a person has two or more watery stool for a month, this is called chronic diarrhoea. When diarrhoea occurs within less than two weeks, this is called acute diarrhoea.  There are many causes of diarrhoea like bacterial infections, viral infections, parasites, functional bowel disorders, intestinal disease, food intolerance and sensitivities and reaction to medicine. Other symptom accompanied by diarrhoea is dehydration. Dehydration is dangerous to very young and very old ages. It has be threatened immediately by replacing the loss fluid to the body. Taking ORS or Oral Rehydration Solution is one method to replace the lost fluid in the body. Adults and children have different signs of dehydration. Here are some of the signs of adults and children dehydration.

Signs of dehydration in adults:
•#Dark colored urine
•#Dry skin
•#Fatigue
•#Dizziness
•#thirst
•#light- headedness

Signs of dehydration in children:
•#high fever
•#irritability
•#dry mouth and tongue
•#no tears when crying
•#no wet diapers 3 hours or more
•#sunken eyes and cheeks

If these signs are seen to the patient, it is the time to bring the patient to the nearest hospital for treatment. Doctor will perform a test to diagnose diarrhoea by:
•#medical history and physical examination
•#blood tests
•#stool culture
•#fasting tests
•#colonoscopy

Diarrhoea is be treated by buying over the counter medicine like loperamide for adults. It is not advisable to use loperamide when there is blood in the stool. If the diarrhoea is caused by bacteria or parasites, doctors prescribed antibiotics. Avoid alcohol, caffeine, greasy and spicy foods because this food can worsen the diarrhoea. Yogurt and live bacteria culture can recover the diarrhoea more quickly.

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