MIRIAM C.

VIDAL

JOURNAL
ABOUT
FACTS ON ACUTE GASTROENTERITIS

DISEASE ENTITY

Acute gastroenteritis is an intestinal infection caused by several viruses.

Acute gastroenteritis is highly contagious and causes millions of cases of diarrhea
each year.Anyone can get viral gastroenteritis and most people recover without any
complications. However, viral gastroenteritis can be serious for people who cannot
drink enough fluids to replace what is lost through vomiting and diarrhea, especially
infants, young children, the elderly, and people with weak immune systems.
Complications from vomiting also can occur, even in healthy people. Acute
gastroenteritis is highly contagious. The viruses are often transmitted on unwashed
hands. People can get the viruses through close contact with infected individuals,
such as sharing their food, drink, or eating utensils, or by eating food or drinking
beverages that are contaminated with the virus. People who no longer have
symptoms may still be contagious, since the virus can be found in the stool for up to
2 weeks after they recover from their illness. Also, people can become infected
without having symptoms, and they can still spread the infection.

Outbreaks of viral gastroenteritis can occur in child care settings, schools,

nursing homes, cruise ships, camps, dormitories, restaurants, and other places
where people gather in groups. If you suspect that you were exposed to a virus in
one of these settings, you may want to contact your local health department, which
tracks outbreaks.

Usually this is caused by an infection, but this is not always the case. It
usually is of acute onset, normally lasting less than 10 days and self-limiting.
Sometimes it is referred to simply as 'gastro'. It is often called the stomach flu or
gastric flu even though it is not related to influenza.

If the inflammation is limited to the stomach, the term gastritis is used, and if
the small bowel alone is affected it is enteritis.
 Young children and elderly people are most at risk for this condition to be
severe or to develop complications. The most common viral causes of acute
gastroenteritis (AGE) in children <5 years of age in both developed countries as well
as developing countries are rotavirus group A (up to 50% of the cases), noroviruses
(the most common cause of outbreaks of AGE in all age groups), adenoviruses type
40 and 41, astrovirus, and sapovirus

REACTION:

Acute gastroenteritis is a very common problem in infants and children and is

usually caused by a stomach virus, such as the rotavirus, or food poisoning.
Symptoms include a fever, stomachache, vomiting and diarrhea. Although the
vomiting typically lasts only two to three days, the diarrhea can last for one to two
weeks before it finally resolves.

There is no cure or medicine to treat gastroenteritis, but there are many

things that can be done to help your child through this illness.The main problem
from having diarrhea and vomiting is that it can lead your child to getting
dehydrated. The first sign of dehydration is that your child will urinate less
frequently (your child should be urinating every six to eight hours). Other signs
include a dry mouth, not having tears when crying, sunken eyes, weight loss, and
decreased activity or increased irritability. If your child has persistent diarrhea and
vomiting, but is still urinating regularly and has a moist mouth then there is little
danger that he is getting dehydrated.