1. ACUTE DIARRHEAL
DISEASE
ANU.R.V
1ST YEAR
Msc.(N)

2. DEFINITION
• Diarrhea is defined by the World
Health Organization as having three
or more loose or liquid stools per
day, or as having more stools than is
normal for that person.
.

3. • The passage of three or more than three
loose or watery stool in 24 h, or passage
of one or more bloody stool. Acute
diarrhea refers to illness not lasting longer
than 14 days.
• British Society of Gastroenterology defines
diarrhea as the abnormal passage of loose
or liquid stools more than three times
daily and/or a volume of stool greater
than 200 g/day.

4. ETIOLOGY
• Infections.
• Food poisoning
• Travellers Diarrhea
• Antibiotics
• Anxiety, food allergy,
• Acute appendicitis,
• Acute radiation enteritis,
• Intestinal ischaemia

5. CAUSATIVE AGENTS
Bacterial agents: Escherichia coli
Campylobacter,
Clostridium species
Shigella species.
Vibrio cholerae.
Salmonella
• Viral agents : Rotavirus
Human caliciviruses
Adenovirus
• Parasitic agents: Entamoeba histolytica
Giardia intestinalis
Cryptosporidium and Cyclospora

7. CLINICAL
MANIFESTATIONS
VIRAL : Abdominal pain andcramps,
Explosive watery diarrhea,
Nausea and vomiting
BACTERIAL : Low grade fever, Four
to five loose stools per day,severe
cramping,watery or bloody diarrhea
,tenesmus, urgency,rice watery stool
[vibrio colerae],severe dehydration

8. PARASITIC:
• Sudden onset,
• malodorous, explosive,
• watery diarrhea;
• flatulence
• epigastric pain and cramping,
• nausea, fever,leukocytes in stool

9. INVESTIGATIONS
• Stool specimen
• Fecal leukocyte determination
• Stool culture for enteric pathogens
• Stool examination for ova and
parasites
• Flexible sigmoidoscopy with biopsy

10. MANAGEMENT
• Drug treatment
• Antimotility drugs
• Antispasmodics
• Antibacterial drugs
• Rehydration