Gastroenteritis Flashcards
What is gastroenteritis?
inflammation of the GI tract
What are the symptoms of gastroenteritis?
Diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain
What is the most common cause of gastroenteritis?
Viral
What do times of ingestion of food compared to development of symptoms reveal about the cause?
Bacterial toxins- hours, viruses- days, bacteria- weeks and parasites-months
What is Diarrhoea?
3 or more loose stools or stools with increased liquid per day
What is acute diarrhoea?
lasting less than 14 days
What is chronic diarrhoea?
lasting more than 14 days
What is dysentery?
Gastroenteritis characterised by loose stools with blood and mucus
What is travellers diarrhoea?
More than 3 loose stools commencing within 24 hours of foreign travel, with to without cramps, nausea fever or vomiting, usually due to Enterotoxigenic E coli
What are the risk factors for gastroenteritis?
Poor food preparation, handling and cooking, immunocompromise, poor personal hygiene
What are the typical features of gastroenteritis?
Cramp-like abdominal pain and diarrhoea, may have blood or mucus, vomiting, pyrexia, night sweats, weight loss, dehydration
What specific features should you ask about in a history of expected gastroenteritis?
Bowel movements
Affected family or friends
recent travel
antibiotics (c diff)
What investigations need to be done for gastroenteritis?
stool culture may be needed if mucus or blood
How is gastroenteritis managed?
Rehydration, education, exclusion from work, notifiable
What are the viruses that may cause gastroenteritis?
Norovirus, Rotavirus, Adenovirus
What are the bacteria that may cause gastroenteritis?
Campylobacter, Ecoli, Salmonella, Shigella
What are the bacteria toxins that can cause gastroenteritis?
Staphlococcus aureus, bacillus cereus, clostridium perfinges, vibro cholera
How long do bacterial toxins gastroenteritis usually last?
Less than 24 hours
What kind of parasites cause gastroenteritis?
Cryptospoidium, entamoeba histolytic, Giardia intestinalis, Schistosoma
What pathogen usually causes hospital acquired gastroenteritis?
C difficile
How does C diff usually develop?
after broad spectrum antibiotics disrupt the normal microbiota of the bowel
What exotoxins does C diff produce?
A and B
What do exotoxins cause to happen in C diff?
inflammatory response causing inflammatory exudate on the colonic mucosa which causes severe bloody diarrhoea
What can a complication of C diff be?
Toxic megacolon
What are the investigations for C diff?
c difficile toxin
What is the treatment for c diff?
IV rehydration and oral metronidazole
What are some non infective causes of gastroenteritis?
Radiation colitis, inflammatory bowel disease, microscopic colitis, chronic ischaemic colitis
