Viral gastroenteritis: What you need to know

Food is becoming an increasingly important area of ​​life. The dishes are increasingly diverse in terms of ingredients as well as processing methods. And because of that, digestive disorders also become more common. One of them is diarrhea and the most common is viral gastroenteritis. Aside from diarrhea, what are the symptoms to diagnose and what is the best treatment. Let's find out the article with SignsSymptomsList below.

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• 1. What is gastroenteritis?
• 2. What causes gastroenteritis?
• 3. Symptoms and signs to recognize the disease
• 4. When should you go to the doctor?
• 5. Disease factors and complications of the disease
• 6. Diagnosis
• 7. Treatment Methods
• 8. Precautions

1. What is gastroenteritis?

Viral gastroenteritis is a common infection of the digestive system. Symptoms include diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea or vomiting, and sometimes fever. Viral gastroenteritis is spread by coming into contact with someone who has a pre-existing infection or by ingesting contaminated food or water. If you are in good health, the disease will heal quickly and with almost no complications. However, in infants, the elderly, and people with immune disorders, viral gastroenteritis is potentially fatal.

There is no effective treatment for viral gastroenteritis. So redundancy is still the first method. In addition to avoiding contaminated food and water, washing your hands thoroughly and often is the best way to protect you and your family.

Viral gastroenteritis: abdominal pain, diarrhea are common symptoms.

2. What causes gastroenteritis?

You are very susceptible to viral gastroenteritis through unclean food and drinking water. It is also possible to spread the disease if you share utensils, towels or food with an infected person.

Some viruses have a high ability to cause gastroenteritis

• Norovirus . Both adults and children can get sick from Norovirus. This virus is the most common cause of gastrointestinal illness in the world. Norovirus infection can be from the family or in the community. It is especially capable of spreading strongly in closed environments, narrow spaces. Most infections come from food and water sources, although it can still be spread from person to person.
• Rotavirus. It is the most common global cause of gastroenteritis in children. Children are objects that often put objects or hands in their mouths, so they are very susceptible to disease. The disease can be severe in infants and young children. Adults can still get the disease, but it's often self-limited or asymptomatic. However, adults can be an unwitting source of infection to children. Currently, in the world and in Vietnam, there are vaccines to prevent diseases for young children.
• Certain species of shellfish, especially raw or undercooked, can also make you and your family sick. Although the disease can be transmitted through contaminated water, most cases of the virus are spread by some people's habit of not washing their hands after using the toilet.

3. Symptoms and signs to recognize the disease

Gastroenteritis occurs when a virus attacks the digestive system. And cause the following symptoms and signs:

• Loose stools, usually loose stools without blood. But if there's blood in your stool, it means you have a serious infection.
• Stomachache.
• Muscle aches and aches all over.
• Mild fever.

Depending on the causative agent, symptoms can appear within one to three days after you become infected, and severity can vary widely. Symptoms usually last only a day or two. However, there are still cases where they can last up to 10 days.

Because the symptoms are so similar, it can be difficult to distinguish between diarrhea caused by viruses and diarrhea caused by bacterial agents, such as Clostridium difficile, Salmonella and E. coli, or parasites such as giardia.

4. When should you go to the doctor?

4.1. For adults

• You have continuous, heavy diarrhea for 24 hours.
• You have vomited continuously within the past 2 days.
• Or you vomit blood.
• You have signs of dehydration such as excessive thirst, less urine or turning dark yellow, dizziness, ...
• Diarrhea with blood.
• You have a high fever > 40oC.

Children are sensitive subjects when they lose a lot of water.

4.2. Babies and young children

If your baby is an infant or young child, contact your doctor right away if:

• Fever of 39oC or higher.
• The child's face is dull or crying hard to comfort.
• Passing stools with blood.
• There are signs of dehydration. If your child shows signs of dehydration, you need to monitor the amount of water he drinks and urine output.
• If your baby is an infant, he may be vomiting for a variety of reasons. And some of them require medical attention.

Call your doctor right away if your baby has the following signs:

• Vomiting lasts for several hours.
• No wet diapers for 6 hours straight.
• Bloody stools or severe diarrhea.
• Dry mouth or cry a lot but no tears.
• Unusual sleep, or difficulty waking the baby.

5. Disease factors and complications of the disease

5.1. The danger elements

Gastroenteritis is one of the common digestive diseases. The disease can affect people of all ages, races and occupations. However, here are some factors that can potentially increase your risk, including:

• Children. Children who live in daycare centers and day schools may be at high risk for illness because it takes time for them to develop their immune systems.
• Elderly. The immune system of the elderly gradually declines. Especially elderly people living in nursing homes, they live in crowded environments with weak immune systems.
• Semi-boarding students, residents living in a densely populated environment. Crowded places are considered favorable environments for disease transmission.
• People with weakened immune systems. If your ability to fight infections is impaired – for example, if your immune system is compromised due to HIV/AIDS, chemotherapy or another medical condition – you are at risk for the disease and may develop the disease. heavy.

5.2. Symptoms

The main complication of viral gastroenteritis is dehydration and electrolytes. The degree of dehydration and electrolyte loss is very variable, which can be mild but can also be severe. If you're in good health and drink enough water, dehydration shouldn't be a problem.

Newborns, the elderly, and people who are immunocompromised can become severely dehydrated. These subjects should be hospitalized promptly for rehydration and electrolytes. Dehydration and electrolytes can be fatal, but death is rare.

6. Diagnosis

Your doctor can diagnose the disease based on symptoms, physical examination and sometimes based on the epidemiology around you, there are cases of the disease or not. Stool tests can help determine whether the agent is Norovirus or Rotavirus, but it is not available to test for other agents that can cause gastroenteritis. In some cases, you may need a stool test to rule out bacteria or parasites.

7. Treatment Methods

There is still no specific treatment for viral illness. Antibiotics have no effect on viruses, and overuse of antibiotics can cause bacterial multi-drug resistance, which will leave no cure if you actually have a bacterial infection. Treatment is usually at home rehydration and electrolytes and follow-up examination if abnormalities are present.

For babies and young children

Below will be the section for infants and young children – who are most susceptible to the disease. The first priority in treatment is rehydration and electrolytes for the child.

• You can help your child rehydrate by mouth if not specifically directed by the doctor. Ask your doctor for help on how to rehydrate your child. Your doctor will show you a solution called Oresol and will instruct you on how to use it correctly.
• Give your child soft, easy-to-digest foods and don't force them to eat too much.
• Limit your child's intake of certain foods. Especially foods that contain a lot of sugar such as ice cream, candy and soft drinks. These foods can make your child's diarrhea worse.
• Let your child rest because diarrhea and illness can make him weak and tired.
• Do not give your child anti-diarrheal medicines unless directed by your doctor. Arbitrarily giving this medicine to a child can reduce the ability to eliminate the virus.
• When your child has just finished vomiting or has diarrhea, let him rest for about 20 minutes. Then you can give your baby some water or some milk.

8. Precautions

The best way to prevent the spread of disease is to take the following precautions:

• Get your child vaccinated. Rotavirus - a common cause of illness in young children - but there is a vaccine to prevent it, especially for children under 1 year of age.
• Wash your hands often.
• Use separate personal items, avoid sharing eating utensils, water glasses and plates. Especially using a separate towel in the bathroom.
• Keep distance. Avoid close contact with people who are sick, if possible.
• Disinfect surfaces such as tables, chairs, doorknobs, etc.

How to properly wash your hands for you and your child

• Wash your hands often.
• And make sure your kids have good and clean hands, too.
• If your child is an adult, you can teach them how to wash their hands, especially after using the toilet. It is best to wash your hands with soap for at least 20 seconds.
• Some areas need attention such as fingertips, nails and the back of the hand.
• If you can't wash your hands with water, you can wash them with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, but washing your hands with a quick hand sanitizer is only temporary.

Give your child the rotavirus vaccine.

In order to have a very healthy health, in addition to eating well, make sure that you and your family do not have diseases that are easily transmitted through the digestive tract. Especially young children, who are very susceptible to diseases and also very easily get serious. Let's join SignsSymptomsList to protect you and your family from gastrointestinal diseases by washing your hands often and eating cooked food.

Doctor Dao Thi Thu Huong