Dysentery (UK: /ˈdɪsəntri/,[7]US: /ˈdɪsənˌtɛri/),[8] historically known as the bloody flux,[9] is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea.[1][10] Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation.[2][5][11] Complications may include dehydration.[3]
The cause of dysentery is usually the bacteria from genus Shigella, in which case it is known as shigellosis, or the amoeba Entamoeba histolytica; then it is called amoebiasis.[1] Other causes may include certain chemicals, other bacteria, other protozoa, or parasitic worms.[2] It may spread between people.[4] Risk factors include contamination of food and water with feces due to poor sanitation.[5] The underlying mechanism involves inflammation of the intestine, especially of the colon.[2]
Efforts to prevent dysentery include hand washing and food safety measures while traveling in countries of high risk.[4] While the condition generally resolves on its own within a week, drinking sufficient fluids such as oral rehydration solution is important.[4] Antibiotics such as azithromycin may be used to treat cases associated with travelling in the developing world.[11] While medications used to decrease diarrhea such as loperamide are not recommended on their own, they may be used together with antibiotics.[11][4]
Shigella results in about 165 million cases of diarrhea and 1.1 million deaths a year with nearly all cases in the developing world.[6] In areas with poor sanitation nearly half of cases of diarrhea are due to Entamoeba histolytica.[5]Entamoeba histolytica affects millions of people and results in more than 55,000 deaths a year.[12] It commonly occurs in less developed areas of Central and South America, Africa, and Asia.[12] Dysentery has been described at least since the time of Hippocrates.[13]
^ abcd"Dysentery". who.int. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
^ abcd"Dysentery" at Dorland's Medical Dictionary
^ ab"WHO EMRO | Dysentery | Health topics". www.emro.who.int. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
^ abcdefg"Dysentery". nhs.uk. 18 October 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
^ abcdMarie C, Petri WA (August 2013). "Amoebic dysentery". BMJ Clinical Evidence. 2013. PMC 3758071. PMID 23991750.
^ abc"Dysentery (Shigellosis)" (PDF). WHO. November 2016. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 September 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
^"dysentery". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. n.d. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
^"dysentery". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
^"bloody flux". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
^"Controlling the Spread of Infections in Evacuation Centers |Health and Safety Concerns". U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
^ abcTribble DR (September 2017). "Antibiotic Therapy for Acute Watery Diarrhea and Dysentery". Military Medicine. 182 (S2): 17–25. doi:10.7205/MILMED-D-17-00068. PMC 5650106. PMID 28885920.
^ abShirley DT, Farr L, Watanabe K, Moonah S (July 2018). "A Review of the Global Burden, New Diagnostics, and Current Therapeutics for Amebiasis". Open Forum Infectious Diseases. 5 (7): ofy161. doi:10.1093/ofid/ofy161. PMC 6055529. PMID 30046644.
^Grove D (2013). Tapeworms, Lice, and Prions: A compendium of unpleasant infections. OUP Oxford. p. PT517. ISBN 978-0-8493-0072-1.
Dysentery (UK: /ˈdɪsəntri/, US: /ˈdɪsənˌtɛri/), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other...
Bacillary dysentery is a type of dysentery, and is a severe form of shigellosis. It is associated with species of bacteria from the family Enterobacteriaceae...
Amoebiasis, or amoebic dysentery, is an infection of the intestines caused by a parasitic amoeba Entamoeba histolytica. Amoebiasis can be present with...
Dysentery bush is a common name for several Australian plants and may refer to: Alyxia buxifolia Grewia latifolia, endemic to Northern and Eastern Australia...
South America, and the Caribbean. Common names include paradise-tree, dysentery-bark, and bitterwood. The tree is well suited for warm, humid, tropical...
Signs and symptoms may range from mild abdominal discomfort to severe dysentery characterized by cramps, diarrhea, with slimy-consistent stools, fever...
Complex," referencing the subject matter: one who refuses to grow up. "Dysentery Gary" leads off the second half of the album, and was written by DeLonge...
largely known from the writings of Gregory of Tours who claimed it was dysentery. This epidemic took the lives of several prominent Franks of the period...
naturally found in humans and gorillas. During infection, it typically causes dysentery. Shigella is a leading cause of bacterial diarrhea worldwide, with 80–165...
rare in the developed world. If blood is present, it is also known as dysentery. A number of non-infectious causes can result in diarrhea. These include...
C. jejuni. It produces an inflammatory, sometimes bloody, diarrhea or dysentery syndrome, and usually cramps, fever and pain. The prodromal symptoms are...
The Rocks. Many of the convicts that survived the trip suffered from dysentery, smallpox, scurvy, and typhoid. Healthcare facilities remained inadequate...
is used to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases such as cholera, dysentery, and typhoid. In a paper published in 1894, it was formally proposed to...
protozoans such as the agents of malaria, sleeping sickness, and amoebic dysentery; animals such as hookworms, lice, mosquitoes, and vampire bats; fungi...
Lime juice on its own would have significantly prevented scurvy and dysentery, and tafia/rum was soon added as it became widely available to the British...
mother. After Moody broke the news to Betty, she got extremely sick with dysentery. Mahtob sat at her side day after day, watching her fade in and out of...
Southeast Asia; it may have been used to treat skin infections, wounds, dysentery, urinary tract infections, and gastrointestinal complaints, although there...
the fair. From June to November 1933, there was an outbreak of amoebic dysentery associated with the fair. There were more than a thousand cases, resulting...
foodstuffs. In 1767, German Johann von Zimmermann wrote an important work on dysentery. In 1777, Maximilian Stoll of Vienna described cancer of the gallbladder...
have medicinal effects, such as reducing the effects of constipation and dysentery[citation needed] and lowering blood lipids and cholesterol, and its medicinal...
still cause tuberculosis, hepatitis, measles, typhoid fever, cholera and dysentery. The poor generally receive health care free of charge. Health records...
Global Information