Dysentery is caused by protozoan and bacterial infection or by infestation of parasites through different avenues open to contamination. It can also be a result of other irritants and allergens or viral infections. Depending on the pathogen causing the infection, it can be classified as bacterial or amoebic dysentery; while bacterial dysentery is more common in developed countries, amoebic dysentery is more prevalent in the tropics around the world.
Symptoms of Dysentery
The symptoms and severity of dysentery depends on the pathogen causing the disease. The typical symptoms include:
- Watery and smelly diarrhea with mucus or blood
- Fever
- Nausea and vomiting
- Abdominal discomfort with tenderness or pain
- Pain around the rectum and colon
In some rare cases, the pathogen enters the blood stream and spreads beyond the intestinal area, affecting other vital organs like the liver, brain, and the lungs.
Dysentery could be either acute or chronic:
- Acute Dysentery: Acute dysentery is characterized by frequent diarrhea, accompanied by abdominal pain, yellowish mucus, and foul-smelling stools. Pain is experienced before evacuations, and there is a constant urge to evacuate, although only mucus and blood are passed when the patient attempts to pass stools. Abdominal distension is experienced along with pain in the rectal area. The digestive system is completely affected. The saliva and gastric juices turn acidic and alkaline respectively. The patient is unable to stomach any food, and every morsel results in an evacuation or vomiting. The bacilli create toxins which in turn make the fecal matter too toxic, thereby escalating the risk of contamination of the blood stream by these toxins.
- Chronic Dysentery: Chronic dysentery, as the name implies, is usually acute dysentery that lingers on, without the patient making a full recovery. Although the acute dysentery has abated, there is still mucus and blood in the stools and the putrid odor too lingers signaling that all is not well in the intestinal and colon areas. Sometimes, diarrhea and constipation may alternate, with the patient's general health suffering as a result. In some extremely rare cases, the dysentery might affect the body temperature too, turning it into a fever or sub-normal temperature depending on the patient's general health.
Factors and Foods That Cause Dysentery
The most common factor resulting in dysentery in India has been identified as unhealthy foods that are hard to digest and as a result stay in the intestine for very long periods resulting in infection. These could include:
- Very spicy foods
- Oily and fried foods that can also be hard to digest.
- Meat (sometimes which remains partially cooked), which can be difficult to digest in the hot climate.
Identifying the Pathogen
The pathogen causing the dysentery is usually identified by examining the stool sample cultures. In severe cases, more than one culture test might be needed to identify the different pathogens as they can be viral, bacterial, or parasitic.
Treatment of Dysentery
While bacterial dysentery is more severe, it is also easily treatable as it responds to medication faster. The amoebic dysentery is harder to treat, and the patient has to let the amoebic infection run its course.
The treatment for dysentery usually addresses the following:
- Removal of the feces and toxins from the system.
- Reduction of the frequent evacuations and thereby helping the patient recover by alleviating the painful symptoms.
- Preventing the infection from spreading to other organs.
- Reducing the severity of the infection and thereby beginning the healing process for the infected intestine and colon.
Dysentery patients need to take sufficient amount of fluid to ensure that there is no risk of dehydration. In extreme cases, where the dysentery is accompanied by vomiting, thereby increasing the threat of dehydration, hospitalization is warranted to administer intravenous(IV) fluids.
Medications Usually Prescribed for Dysentery
Usually drugs can be prescribed only after obtaining the results of the stool culture to identify the causing pathogen. In the case of amoebic dysentery, a two-pronged attack to counter the debilitating dysentery is advised. The patient is prescribed anti-microbial drugs like metronidazole, and diloxanide furoate is prescribed for eliminating the parasite.
Avoiding roadside foods, cooking meats well, having freshly prepared foods, and above all having clean drinking water are just some of the measures you can take to avoid developing dysentery.
