Acute diarrhea, mostly viral infections Humans have a long, long intestinal tract, which is not only responsible for digestion and absorption, but also secretes a large amount of digestive juices. From the time we eat to the final bowel movement, in fact, is the result of a game of balance between absorption and secretion. When this balance is broken, there may be a significant increase in the number of stools, fecal thinning, that is, diarrhea. 1, hypertonic diarrhea: because some of the ingredients in the food is difficult to absorb hypertonic sugar, a large amount of water into the intestinal tract to balance the osmotic pressure, thus triggering diarrhea. Many people drink milk will have lactose intolerance caused by hypertonic diarrhea, young children add supplemental food improperly caused by diarrhea is also the reason. 2, malabsorption diarrhea: this is a variety of diseases caused by intestinal absorption disorders, reduced absorption leading to diarrhea. For example, after intestinal resection or pancreatic, liver disease caused by diarrhea. 3, motor diarrhea: that is, some reasons lead to intestinal peristalsis faster, water to absorb and cause diarrhea. For example, hyperthyroidism patients often have diarrhea. These three causes of diarrhea, mostly chronic long-term. The diarrhea we need to deal with in our home medicine kit is usually acute, that is, those that last less than two weeks. Mainly caused by the following two reasons: 4, secretory diarrhea: certain bacterial toxins and viruses cause intestinal infections, stimulate intestinal mucosal secretion at the same time also reduces the intestinal mucosa’s ability to absorb, causing diarrhea. 5, exudative diarrhea: certain bacteria directly damage the intestinal mucosa, causing ulceration or erosion of the intestinal wall, this kind of diarrhea can sometimes be seen with the naked eye mucus pus and blood stool. Having an infection is not the same thing as needing to use antibacterial drugs. For example, the common cold is a viral infection that does not require antimicrobials. Acute diarrhea is actually almost the same, basically viral and bacterial infections, of which viruses again account for the vast majority, fungi and parasites have been rare. The two most common are norovirus and rotavirus: Norovirus is the most common cause of acute diarrhea in adults in the fall and winter seasons, and in Europe and the United States, the acute diarrhea caused by norovirus is close to 80%, and some surveys have found that our country is also more than 50%. Rotaviruses are the most common pathogens of diarrhea in infants and children, and can account for about 20% of the causes of diarrhea in adults. In the vast majority of people, diarrhea caused by these viruses usually recovers on its own within 1 to 8 days, and there is no need for any antimicrobials. What about bacterial causes? Antibacterials are not always necessary. There are many bacteria that can cause acute diarrhea, such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Yersinia and so on. Bacteria cause more diarrhea in the summer. Some bacteria cause diarrhea mainly because the toxins produced by the bacteria cause secretory diarrhea, which is the same as that caused by viruses, and will get well in about 3 to 7 days, so there is no need to use antimicrobials. Some bacteria, such as Campylobacter, Yersinia, and invasive E. coli, can directly damage the cells of the intestinal mucosa and cause severe reactions, such as high fever and pus and blood in the stool. That’s what really needs antimicrobial treatment. Indiscriminate use of antibiotics is very harmful There must be someone to ask again, I have diarrhea just take some norfloxacin, useful the best, not useful to eat a few days what is the problem? Of course there is a problem. Misuse of antimicrobials, to a large extent, can accelerate the production of drug-resistant bacteria, the treatment of bacterial infections may become increasingly difficult. From an individual perspective, even the occasional misuse of antibacterial drugs may disrupt the harmony of the flora in the intestinal tract, and the health of the intestinal tract may be affected, which, combined with the side effects of antibacterial drugs, can easily lead to diarrhea. In other words, if we misuse antimicrobials to treat diarrhea, it may instead lead to persistent and prolonged diarrhea. In addition, we should also be wary of the side effects of antibacterial drugs, such as norfloxacin, which is not allowed to be used by people under 18 years of age according to regulations because of its potential to affect the development of children’s bones. That said, when it comes to diarrhea, how do we figure out which ones need antibacterials and which ones don’t? And which ones don’t need to be taken? Doctors can’t easily tell in a short period of time, but we can use some rough methods to roughly divide them. Diarrhea that does not require medication is mostly yellow egg-shaped stools or watery stools, which are basically simple secretory diarrhea, and there is rarely any blood in the stools. Those who really need to be treated with antibacterial drugs often have mucus, pus and blood in the stool, which is usually invasive diarrhea, and the systemic symptoms are also heavy, and there is likely to be high fever and other manifestations. In this case, please consult the doctor, the doctor will choose the appropriate empirical treatment according to your situation, and according to the stool culture and other further examination to determine the exact causative organisms and sensitive drugs, it is best not to randomly use their own antimicrobial treatment. It is also important to note that routine blood tests are not of much significance at this time. The routine blood test itself can roughly determine whether there is a bacterial infection, but many bacterial diarrhea is not recommended to use antibacterial drugs, so it is not recommended to use the routine blood test found that the white blood cells are elevated as the basis for antibacterial treatment. Oral rehydration salts should always be kept at home The fact that you don’t need to take antibacterials doesn’t mean that you should leave diarrhea alone. Colds are also self-limiting illnesses and we have cold remedies to alleviate the symptoms, as does diarrhea. After diarrhea occurs, in addition to always running to the toilet to make people very upset, the body’s water and salt loss is also more serious, so targeted rehydration and anti-diarrhea treatment is very important. Let’s talk about dietary supplements: in the early stages of diarrhea, the best food is starchy cooked food containing salt, such as salty porridge, and remember to eat small meals. In the later stages, you can gradually add other foods that are less oily and easier to digest to supplement calories, such as yogurt, cooked vegetables, cereals, and meat. Fruit juice is not recommended to replenish electrolytes; it contains too much sugar and may aggravate diarrhea. Another important weapon in rehydration is oral rehydration salts, which is often overlooked by people and even many doctors. Oral rehydration salts have always been the most important drugs to deal with diarrhea, especially now the new oral rehydration salts III, in addition to replenishing water and electrolytes, preventing or correcting dehydration, but also to reduce the number of stools, reduce vomiting, relieve the symptoms of diarrhea role, is really a must-have medicine for the family medicine cabinet. For acute diarrhea in young children, zinc supplementation is also recommended. If the diarrhea is dominated by mucus, pus, and blood with high fever, or if there are frequent watery stools and severe vomiting, or if the diarrhea lasts for more than 2 weeks, this is not something that can be solved with a home remedy, and you need to go to the doctor to see how to deal with it. Having said that: light diarrhea can not be used, severe diarrhea can not be used indiscriminately, and there is no need to prepare norfloxacin at home. Wash your hands often, can effectively prevent diarrhea What is the way to prevent diarrhea? Wash your hands often. Indeed, hand washing is the best measure to prevent various diseases. Studies have shown that consistent hand washing before meals can reduce the incidence of acute infectious diarrhea by half. Some other precautions include: don’t grab food with your hands, wash and sterilize utensils in time, separate the handling of raw and cooked food, eat cooked seafood and so on. As for vaccines, rotavirus, which affects infants and young children, has a vaccine available and can be used as appropriate.