Question

What are the causes of children’s diarrhea and how should they be treated?

Answer

  1. Duration of illness:
    • Acute diarrhea, with an onset of illness within two weeks.
    • Persistent diarrhea, with a duration of 2 weeks to 2 months.
    • Chronic diarrhea, with a duration of more than two months.
  2. Characteristics of stools:
    • Sudden diarrhea with yellow or yellow-green stools often indicates early signs of enteritis or infection.
    • Watery stools resembling egg soup, occurring in autumn or early winter, are usually due to viral infection and are known as “autumn diarrhea” (or viral enteritis).
    • Deep green watery stools may suggest golden staphylococcal enteritis or Salmonella typhi infection.
    • Bright red bloody stools are mostly indicative of lower gastrointestinal bleeding; black tarry stools are mostly indicative of upper gastrointestinal bleeding.
    • Stools with a lot of foam and a strong sour smell may indicate indigestion.
    • Stools with a lot of mucus are a sign of intestinal infection.
    • Mucus mixed with blood indicates inflammation, possibly bacterial dysentery or Campylobacter jejuni enteritis.
    • Rice water-like stools require exclusion of cholera.
    • Foul or fishy-smelling stools may suggest pathogenic Escherichia coli enteritis.
    • Acute diarrhea accompanied by fever, abdominal pain, and other symptoms is mostly due to acute intestinal infection (such as acute enteritis, dysentery, etc.).
    • Accompanied by vomiting.