Diarrhoea Flashcards
Types of diarrhoea (5)
- Secretory
- Osmotic
- Malabsorption
- Inflammatory
- Abnormal intestinal motility
Secretory diarrhoea
- Characteristics
- Causes
- Large volume, watery, persists on fasting
- Infectious
Osmotic diarrhoea
- Characteristics
- Causes
- Disappears on fasting
- Lactose intolerance, laxatives
Malabsorption
- Characteristics
- Causes
- Weight loss, steatorrhoea
- Chronic pancreatitis, coeliac disease, CF, surgery, Crohn’s, diabetes
Inflammatory diarrhoea
- Characteristics
- Causes
- Blood, mucus and pus
- IBD, carcinoma, diverticulitis, ischaemic bowel disease
Abnormal intestinal motility
- Characteristics
- Causes
- Frequent bowel movements
- Thyrotoxicosis, IBS, drugs, overflow diarrhoea
Pseudomembranous colitis after broad spectrum antibiotics.
Antibiotics
Clostridium difficile
Oral metronidazole, oral vancomycin (severe cases)
Diarrhoea 2-3 hours after eating leftover rice. Stool culture shows gram positive aerobic bacilli.
Antibiotics
Bacillus cereus
Antibiotics not required.
Watery and fatty diarrhoea and foul-smelling belches after returning from Russia. Stool culture shows cysts and trophozoites.
Antibiotics
Giardia
Oral metronidazole
Rice water stools. Stool culture shows gram negative bacilli.
Antibiotics
Vibrio cholera
Tetracycline
Severe watery diarrhoea and cramps in cattle farmer with HIV. Duodenal biopsy shows oocysts attached to bowel wall.
Cryptosporidium
35-year-old woman with diabetes has chronic diarrhoea and angular stomatitis. Anti-gliadin antibodies detected.
Coeliac disease
Pathological changes in Coeliac disease
Loss of villi architecture/villous atrophy and lymphocytic infiltration of the villi
