MedSurg 47 Lower GI Problems Flashcards
Diarrhea is defined as having ____ loose or liquid stools per day.
3
(MedSurg 47 Sherpath)
Diarrhea is acute if it lasts ___ or less.
14
Diarrhea is persistent if it lasts _____
Longer than 14 days
Diarrhea is chronic if it lasts _____ or longer.
30
The primary cause of acute diarrhea is?
Ingesting infectious organisms
____ cause most cases of infectious diarrhea in the U.S.
Viruses
What is the most common GI parasite causing diarrhea in the U.S?
Giardia lamblia
What organism causes diarrhea and can be found in undercooked poultry, unpasteurized milk, and most frequent in summer months?
Campylobactar jejuni
What organism causes diarrhea and can be found when using prolonged antibiotics followed by feces-contaminated surfaces? Spores are extremely hard to kill.
Clostridioides difficile
What organism causes diarrhea and can be found in meats, gravies, stews, dried or precooked foods? Especially impacts older adults.
Clostridium perfringens
What organism causes diarrhea and can be found in water or food contaminated with infected feces, can cause serious illness especially in older adults, and may cause life threatening renal failure.
Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli
(E.coli O157:H7)
What organism causes diarrhea and can be found in poultry, reptiles, and other animals like turtles, lizards, snakes, chicks, and young birds? Transmitted by handling animals. Found un undercooked poulry, meats, foods prepared with raw eggs.
Salmonella
What organism causes diarrhea and can be found in recreational water?
Shigella
What organism causes diarrhea and can be found in 25-50% of people who carry in the mucous membranes, skin, or hair. Transmitted in food contaminated by food workers or contaminated milk and cheese.
Staphylococcua
What organism causes diarrhea and can be found in human intestines, stool of infected humans or animals. Outter shell allows it to live for long periods of time outside of body and is resistant to chlorine. Common cause of waterborne disease (swimming pools, lake, drinking water, nd food contaminated with. feces)
Cryptosporidium
What organism causes diarrhea and can be found in fecally contaminated food, water, or hands. Most common in tropical areas. High risk groups include travelers, recent immigrants, and men who have sex with men.
Entamoeba histolytica
What organism causes diarrhea and can be highly contagious, transmitted via fecal-oral route, and found in fresh lakes and rivers. Can be transmitted in swimming pools, water parks, and hot tubs.
Giardia lamblia
What virus causes diarrhea, is very contagious, and present in stool and emesis.
Norovirus
(Norwalk-like virus)
What virus causes diarrhea is highly contagious, and is transmitted mainly by fecal-oral route?
Rotavirus
_____ diarrhea is a result of bacterial or viral infections. It occurs when ingested pathogens survive in the GI tract long enough to absorb into the enterocytes. The resulting chain reaction changes cell permeability and causes over secretion of water, sodium, and chloride into the bowel.
Secretory
Since stomach acid kills ingested pathogens, taking drugs which _______ increases the chance pathogens will survive.
decrease stomach acid
(proton pump inhibitors [PPIs])
Jejunostomy and nasointestinal feedings, which bypass the stomach’s acid environment, do not contain the _______ that normal colonic bacteria need for survival, increasing risk of infection.
poorly digestible fiber
Diarrhea is not always due to infection. Drugs and food intolerances can cause diarrhea. Such as:
Large amounts of undigested carbohydrates in the bowel, lactose intolerance, and certain laxatives (e.g., lactulose, sodium phosphate, magnesium citrate) produce osmotic diarrhea.
Diarrhea from celiac disease and short bowel syndrome (SBS) result from malabsorption in the _________.
small intestine
Infections that attack the upper GI tract usually cause:
Large-volume, watery stools
Cramping
Periumbilical pain
Low-grade or no fever
Nausea and vomiting before diarrhea begins
Infections of the colon and distal small bowel cause:
fever and frequent bloody diarrhea with a small volume.
