GI Bugs Flashcards
If someone is having diarrhea, is it more likely it is caused by a virus or a bacteria?
Virus
4 viral causes of gastroenteritis / age:
Rotovirus (kids), Norovirus (adults), Astrovirus (children in developing countries; less common), Adenovirus (children; often causes respiratory illness)
How are you likely to contract campylobacter? / who most often gets it?
Eating undercooked or contaminated poultry / teens & young adults
Campylobacter - type of diarrhea
ranges from watery to bloody
Treatment for Campylobacter:
Self-limiting; should resolve within a week.
How do people usually contract Salmonella?
Pet reptiles, undercooked/raw poultry/eggs/dairy
Diarrhea that accompanies Salmonella?
Severe & watery –> bloody
Tx for Salmonella
Should be self-limiting; try not to treat w/abx
What is defining about Typhoid Fever? (4)
Long duration of fever, step-wise fever, pea-soup diarrhea, macular rose spot on chest
Organism that causes Tyhpoid Fever
Salmonella Typhi
Tx for Typhoid Fever?
Cipro / possible gall bladder removal
Way people tend to contract Shigella:
Consuming contaminated food or water
Symptoms / diarrhea associated with Shigella:
Fever/malaise/watery diarrhea –> bloody, mucousy, pussie diarrhea
Treatment for Shigella
Cipro
What is characteristic of E. Coli?
NO fever, “all blood, no stool”
How do people get E. Coli?
Undercooked beef
What is important about an “E. Coli” diagnosis?
NO antibiotics, no anti-diarrheals
Why should you not use anti-diarrheals / abx when treating E. Coli?
E. Coli releases a toxin that can lead to Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome
Diarrhea associated with Cholera?
Rice water diarrhea - NO blood… gray flecks of mucous
What is deadly about cholera?
Can lead to rapid dehydration - 70% mortality when not treated.
How to treat Cholera?
Doxy
Area Cholera is found in?
Asia, Africa, Gulf Coast of US
What will be in someone’s HPI who has C-Diff?
History of abx use 1-6 weeks prior; they got rid of competing flora and are left with C. Diff over growth.
Treatment for C. Diff
Metronidazole
