Don't Consider It A Trivial Disentri, These Are Symptoms And How To Handle It

Illustration of men experiencing dysentery (Freepik/jcomp)

JAKARTA - Disentri is a digestive tract disease characterized by severe diarrhea, often accompanied by blood or mucus. The main causes of this disease are bacterial or parasitic infections. Other accompanying symptoms can be high fever, nausea, vomiting, weight loss, and severe stomach cramps.

Reporting from the Cleveland Clinic page, the dysentery can be fatal if not handled properly. Therefore, anyone who experiences these symptoms is highly advised to immediately contact medical personnel.

There are two main types of distributions, namely:

- Disentri ambau (amoebiasis): Caused by the Entamoeba histolytica parasite. Other parameters such as Balantidium coli and Strongyloides worms can also be the cause.- Basiler Disentri: It is the most common type, caused by bacterial infections such as Shigella, Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Escherichia coli (E. coli).

Disentries can attack anyone, but are most commonly found in the tropics with poor water sanitation. Bad water sanitation is the main trigger for the spread of this disease. Habits of not washing hands after defecating also increase the risk of spreading.

Data shows that about 1.7 billion cases of dysentery occur worldwide each year.

Symptoms

Symptoms of the distribution can vary depending on the type:

- Ambaba's distribution: Most patients do not show symptoms. However, if it appears, it is usually in the form of diarrhea, high fever, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, and weight loss. In rare cases, parasites can spread to other organs and form abscess.

- Disentri basiler: Imbulcing bleeding or lenating diarrhea, high fever, nausea, vomiting, and painful stomach cramps. If severe, it can cause colon inflammation, intestinal widening, and even acute kidney disorders.

Without proper treatment, dysentery can cause death, especially in children, the elderly, and those who are dehydrated or malnourished.

Disentri is very contagious. Transmission generally occurs when the feces of the sufferer move to the mouth of another person, usually through:

- Food or drinks prepared by people with bad hand hygiene.- contaminated water.- Sexual contact involving the anus.

Diagnosed And Examination

To enforce the diagnosis, medical personnel will conduct interviews with symptoms, physical examinations, and laboratory tests.

The main test used is the fecess culture. Patients will be asked to collect fess samples for examination in the laboratory. In some cases, the sigmoidoscopy procedure is also carried out to ensure diagnosis.

Treatment and Handling

Treatment depends on the cause:

- For ambaba dysentri: Doctors will prescribing metronidazole to eradicate parasites, as well as antibiotic and anti-mual drugs such as subsalicylate bismuths.

- For basic cessries: Most people recover without treatment in a few days. But if needed, doctors will give antibiotics, infusion, and in severe cases do blood transfusions.

- Avoid anti-diare drugs like a loperamide, because they can worsen symptoms.

- Drink enough water to prevent dehydration.

- Consumption of pain and fever relievers such as feasibility, acetaminaphen or ibuprofen.

- Use anti-meal drugs like Pepto-Bismol.