Diarrhea diseases
Most diarrhea diseases are caused by a lack of water for personal cleanliness, toilets that are not clean and safe, and contaminated water and food. The most common sign of diarrhea disease is frequent, runny or liquid feces. Other signs include fever, headache, trembling, chills, weakness, stomach and intestinal cramps, vomiting, and swollen belly. What treatment to give depends on the kind of diarrhea a person has. These signs can help you know which diarrhea disease a person has:
- Cholera: diarrhea like rice water, intestinal pain and cramping, vomiting.
- Typhoid: fever, severe intestinal pain and cramping, headache, constipation or thick diarrhea (like pea soup).
- Giardia: diarrhea that looks greasy, floats, and smells bad, intestinal pain, low fever, vomiting, gas, burps sometimes smell like rotten eggs.
- Bacterial dysentery (Shigella): bloody diarrhea 10 to 20 times a day, fever, severe intestinal pain and cramping.
- Amebic dysentery: diarrhea 4 to 10 times a day, often with white mucus, fever, intestinal pain and cramping, and diarrhea right after eating.
- Roundworm: swollen belly, weakness, large pink or white worms that may come out in feces or through the mouth and nose.
- Hookworm: diarrhea, weakness, anemia, pale skin. Children with hookworm may eat dirt.
- Whipworm: diarrhea, thin pink or grey worms in feces.
