What causes frequent diarrhea? Intestinal infection is the most common

Occasional diarrhea has little impact on our physical health, but if you suffer from diarrhea frequently, you should be alert. The most common causes are intestinal infection or enteritis. No matter what the cause of frequent diarrhea is, it will cause certain damage to the body.

1. Intestinal infection: It is the most common cause of chronic diarrhea.

① Bacterial infection:

A. Chronic bacillary dysentery: Acute bacillary dysentery may develop into a chronic disease if it is not completely cured, or it may present as an acute attack on the basis of a chronic disease, manifested by 3 to 5 bowel movements per day, which may be accompanied by mucus, pus and blood, and a feeling of tenesmus. A few patients have pain in the left lower abdomen. The positive rate of stool culture in chronic bacillary dysentery is low, generally only 15% to 30%, so repeated cultures are required to detect the pathogenic bacteria.

B. Intestinal tuberculosis: more common in adolescents and middle-aged people, more common in women than in men. The disease is most likely to occur in the terminal ileum or the right colon. Diarrhea is the main symptom of ulcerative intestinal tuberculosis, often alternating with constipation. The characteristic of diarrhea is that the stool is pasty or watery, ranging from 3 to 5 times a day, and can reach more than 10 times in severe cases, often accompanied by fever, night sweats and other symptoms of tuberculosis poisoning. X-ray barium enema or colonoscopy can confirm the diagnosis.

② Protozoan and parasitic infections:

A. Chronic amoebic dysentery (also known as chronic amoebic enteritis): stool 3 to 5 times a day, paste-like and watery, may be accompanied by mucus or blood. Typical jam-like stool is rare in chronic cases. The course of the disease can last for months or even years. Acute attacks may recur during the course of the disease. Amoeba trophozoites can often be found in fresh feces repeatedly.

B. Chronic schistosomiasis: Patients with chronic schistosomiasis may suffer from diarrhea, 3 to 5 times a day, which is mostly loose stools and may be accompanied by mucus or pus and blood. Patients often have symptoms of schistosomiasis-related liver fibrosis. The diagnosis depends on serum antibody testing and the detection of worm eggs in fecal or rectal mucosal biopsy.

C. Giardia lamblia or Trichomonas infection: Chronic cases have bowel movements several times a day, which are often loose or watery stools, sometimes accompanied by mucus. The diagnosis can be confirmed when Giardia lamblia or Trichomonas is found in the stool.

③Chronic fungal enteritis: often occurs after long-term use of antibiotics and hormones, and is also prone to occur in the late stages of chronic wasting diseases. It manifests as diarrhea, accompanied by mucus or pus and blood in severe cases, and may recur. The diagnosis can be confirmed by finding fungi in the stool. Some patients may develop irritable bowel syndrome after infectious diarrhea.

2. Non-specific or non-infectious intestinal inflammation:

① Chronic nonspecific ulcerative colitis: It is mostly considered to be an autoimmune disease. It has been increasing in China in recent years. It is more common in young and middle-aged people. The lesions mainly invade the rectum, sigmoid colon and descending colon, and can also invade the right colon. It can be divided into 3 types: mild, severe and fulminant. The mild type is the most common. Mild patients have 3 to 4 bowel movements a day, while severe patients can have more than 10 bowel movements a day. The stool is pasty or loose, often mixed with mucus, pus and blood. Severe patients only discharge mucus, pus and blood without feces, often accompanied by abdominal pain, tenesmus and other symptoms. A few cases may have extraintestinal symptoms such as joint pain. X-ray barium enema and colonoscopy are very helpful for diagnosis. During the symptom onset period, the disease can generally be controlled after treatment, so that the disease is in remission. If maintenance treatment is not performed, it may relapse.