What role do prebiotics and probiotics play in treatment of acute diarrhea? The use of probiotics for the treatment of acute diarrhea remains controversial. The rationale is based on the idea that probiotic organisms compete for binding sites and also may produce metabolites and acids harmful to enteric pathogens. Evidence for and against the approach …
What enteric pathogens are associated with reactive arthritis? Several enteric bacterial pathogens may be associated with postinfectious autoimmune arthritis syndromes. Salmonella, Yersinia, Campylobacter, and Shigella are most commonly associated. More recently, E. coli and C. difficile infection have been associated with arthralgia or arthritis syndromes as well. In addition to asymmetric oligoarthritis, some patients may develop conjunctivitis or skin eruptions (keratoderma blennorrhagica …
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What enteric infection has been associated with GBS? Respiratory and intestinal infections, vaccinations, and other immunologic influences have been associated with GBS, an autoimmune demyelinating or axonal peripheral neuropathy usually manifesting as progressive ascending weakness and paralysis. Campylobacter jejuni infection is the most common infection associated with GBS and is usually of an axonal subtype. …
Which bacterial agent of acute diarrhea is most likely to result in bacteremia and distant ectopic foci of infection? Nontyphoidal strains of Salmonella are invasive and may lead to bacteremia after enteric infection. Among older patients, endocarditis or other septic foci of infection have been reported after salmonellosis. Salmonella infections, both typhoidal and nontyphoidal, are situations in which …
What sequelae have been associated with acute enteric infections? A growing list of long-term and other sequelae have been associated with enteric infections. A strong link has been established mechanistically, epidemiologically, and from animal models between enteric infection and autoimmune phenomena like the Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and reactive arthritis. During the last decade, epidemiologic evidence …
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How is the risk of HUS affected by antibiotic use? In the United States, the majority of diarrhea-associated HUS is related to infection with STEC O157:H7, generally from contaminated ground beef. In several series, the use of antibiotics appears to increase the risk of HUS in children younger than 10 years old. Although the data …
How should ORS be dosed in diarrhea? The dose depends on the degree of dehydration. For mild dehydration (3%-5% decrease in body weight), 50 mL/kg taken in 2 to 4 hours is appropriate. For moderate dehydration (6%-9% decrease in body weight), the dosage should be increased to 100 mL/kg taken over the same period. If …