liveonearth (liveonearth) wrote,
liveonearth
liveonearth

Microbiology: Dysentery

dysentery = (formerly known as flux or the bloodie flux) is frequent, small-volume, severe diarrhea that shows blood in the feces along with intestinal cramping and tenesmus (painful straining to pass stool). Additional symptoms frequently associated with dysentery include fever and malaise. Possible causes incl
cancer, micro-orgs, steroids......Most common bugs are Shigella, Campylobacter jejuni and Salmonella. Responds to absorbable and parenteral antibiotics. Might be invasive. Treatment is metronidazole for amoebic cases, but campylobacter, shigella and salmonella respond to ciprofloxacin or macrolide antibiotics. Dysentery killed Gautama Buddha, Kings Louis VIII and IX of France, and many of the Cherokees who walked the Trail of Tears to the Arkansas Oklahoma border.

But I digress.

Inflammatory diarrhea = damage to the mucosal lining or brush border of the intestine, which leads to a passive loss of protein-rich fluids, and a decreased ability to absorb these lost fluids. Can be caused by bacterial infections, viral infections, parasitic infections, or autoimmune problems such as inflammatory bowel disease.may have blood, mucus or polymorphonuclear leukocyctes in the stool.

teichos = wall, from the Greek, teichoic acid and lipotechoic acid are present in the cell walls of Gram positive bugs where they help anchor the peptidoglycan layer, and chelate something. May be antigenic. They have a negative charge.

bugs that cause non-inflammatory diarhhea = ETEC, EPEC, EAEC, Vibrio cholera (rice water stool), S. aureus, C. botulinum, B. cereus.

bugs that cause inflammatory diarrhea = EIEC, EHEC, Shigella, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Yersinia

E. Coli mnemonic: PITHA for pathogenic, invasive, toxigenic, hemorrhagic and aggregative. TAP is non-inflam, HI is inflam.
Tags: digestion, food poisoning, microbes
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