Question
My baby has been suffering from diarrhea for about ten days now. The stool test didn’t show any problems. She has 5-6 bowel movements a day, with yellow-green, runny stools. Sometimes there are pieces of milk mixed in, and it can be frothy.
Answer
Most pathogenic microorganisms enter the digestive tract through ingestion of contaminated water or food, or through contaminated hands. When the body’s defense function is weakened and a large number of microorganisms invade and produce toxins, diarrhea can occur. For example, when rotavirus invades the intestines, it damages the villous cells of the small intestine, causing a decrease in the ability of the intestinal mucosa to absorb water and electrolytes, leading to diarrhea. At the same time, insufficient secretion of disaccharidase leads to incomplete digestion of sugars in the intestinal lumen, which are then decomposed by intestinal bacteria, increasing the osmotic pressure of the intestinal fluid and further causing a loss of water and electrolytes, exacerbating diarrhea. Bacterial infections that cause diarrhea include enterotoxigenic colitis and invasive colitis. However, pathogenic Escherichia coli does not produce enterotoxins or invasive forces, and the pathogenesis is not yet clear.