What are the common types of diarrhea in children? 4 examination methods to find out the cause

Diarrhea in children is a common condition that has a serious impact on babies. There are many types of diarrhea in children. After the disease occurs, we must conduct reasonable examinations to find out the cause and provide symptomatic treatment.

Types of diarrhea in children

1. Bacterial infection diarrhea: The main pathogen causing diarrhea is Escherichia coli. The main symptoms of the children are fever, diarrhea, and white blood cells in the stool test, which mainly occurs in summer. Antibacterial drugs, microecological preparations, and intestinal mucosal protective drugs that are effective for intestinal infections are mainly used. Generally, the treatment lasts for 1 week, and the drug can be stopped if the stool test is normal. Auxiliary treatments include antipyretic and fluid therapy.

2. Bacillary dysentery: Bacillary dysentery is an intestinal infectious disease caused by Shigella dysenteriae. The stool usually contains mucus, accompanied by fever, abdominal pain and tenesmus. Severe toxic dysentery may cause high fever, convulsions, and mental disorders, especially in infants, who may have no or mild abdominal pain and diarrhea. The stool test kit of children with dysentery may show mainly white blood cells, but also red blood cells. It can only be distinguished from Escherichia coli enteritis through stool culture. The treatment is basically the same. Oral antibiotics are often used for intestinal infections, such as amoxicillin, cefaclor, etc.

3. Viral diarrhea: usually occurs in autumn, caused by viruses, and is common in infants and young children aged 6 months to 2 years. Clinical trials have shown that the combination of cimetidine and dipyridamole in the treatment of autumn diarrhea in children can significantly improve clinical efficacy, effectively relieve symptoms, shorten treatment time, and has good safety.

4. Antibiotic-related enteritis: It is diarrhea caused by intestinal flora disturbance due to the need for long-term use of broad-spectrum antibiotics for certain diseases. Conditional pathogens should be considered, such as enteritis caused by Clostridium difficile, Staphylococcus aureus, fungi, etc. The stool of Clostridium difficile enteritis is watery, and may be accompanied by fever, abdominal pain, etc. In severe cases, film-like substances are discharged from the stool, which is called pseudomembranous enteritis. The stool of Staphylococcus aureus enteritis is watery, dark green like seawater, with a fishy smell, and is often accompanied by symptoms of infection and poisoning. The stool of fungal enteritis is watery, foamy, and sometimes like tofu dregs. Generally, discontinuation of antibacterial drugs can relieve it. In order to prevent and treat this flora imbalance, microecological preparations can be used early.

5. Diarrhea caused by improper diet: In infants and young children, the addition of complementary foods too quickly and in excess can easily cause diarrhea due to indigestion. This type of diarrhea will not cause too many bowel movements, and it is not easy to cause dehydration. You only need to adjust your diet appropriately, and there is no need to use antidiarrheal drugs. Older children have poor self-control and cannot control their diet. Due to improper diet and overeating, excessive food accumulates in the intestines and absorbs a large amount of intestinal fluid, which can lead to diarrhea. This type of diarrhea is often accompanied by vomiting, and most of the time it can be relieved by vomiting or excreting these foods, and no special drug treatment is required. If you cannot eat and are accompanied by dehydration, you can use fluid replacement therapy, or you can use microecological preparations to help restore intestinal function.

6. Diarrhea caused by extraintestinal diseases: For children, even extraintestinal diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis, etc. can cause diarrhea; some systemic infections, such as sepsis, can also be complicated by intestinal infections, and red blood cells and white blood cells may appear in the stool. In addition to systemic anti-infection treatment, intestinal mucosal protective drugs and probiotic preparations can be used.

7. Chronic diarrhea: There are many causes of chronic diarrhea, including poorly controlled or repeated intestinal infections, lack of digestive enzymes, and incomplete intestinal flora. Treatment must first understand the cause of diarrhea and treat the cause. Microecological preparations can be given to restore gastrointestinal function. Astringents and adsorbents can be used when necessary. Long-term diarrhea leads to loss of nutrients and malnutrition, and vitamins should be supplemented in time.

8. Allergic diarrhea: Allergic diarrhea is often related to food allergies and is often accompanied by allergic manifestations in other parts of the body. For example, if diarrhea occurs after eating certain foods or taking certain medicines and is accompanied by allergic rashes, allergic diarrhea should be considered. The treatment is mainly to stop taking allergic foods or medicines, and anti-allergic drugs can be used for treatment.

Diarrhea symptoms in children

1. The onset is acute, and the initial stage is often accompanied by cold symptoms, such as cough, nasal congestion, and runny nose. Most children will also have fever, which is usually low-grade and rarely high-grade.

2. Half of the children will experience vomiting. Early vomiting precedes diarrhea, and the vomiting is frequent, with stomach contents and milk vomited out, and the vomiting lasts for 2-3 days.

3. Diarrhea begins to occur within the next 24 hours. The baby's bowel movements increase in frequency, about 10 times a day. If it is more than 3 times a day, it should be considered autumn diarrhea. The stool is thin, milky white, yellow or green like egg drop soup, occasionally with a little mucus or pus and blood, and no special fishy smell. The diarrhea can last for about 3-5 days or 1 week, and in some cases it can last up to 3 weeks.

4. Due to frequent diarrhea and vomiting, and little food intake, severe cases may lead to dehydration, acidosis and electrolyte imbalance, such as obvious thirst, decreased urine output, irritability, mental fatigue, drowsiness, confusion, etc. If not treated in time, hypovolemic shock may occur and endanger life.

Diarrhea test for children

1. Stool test: Some children have diarrhea for a long time, or have repeated diarrhea, or have repeated bloody stools. If there is no improvement after treatment, a bacterial culture of the stool is needed to find out if there is any special bacterial infection.

2. Routine blood examination: The total white blood cell count is mostly normal, with a few slightly increased, and the lymphocyte count may increase in cell classification.

(1) It is used when the child's stool examination is normal but accompanied by fever. In this case, a routine blood test is performed to observe whether the white blood cell count is elevated or decreased, or some viscosity indicators are checked to provide the doctor with a basis for diagnosis.

(2) Some children may need to have blood drawn for testing to check blood potassium, sodium, and chloride ions to reflect the situation and degree of water loss in the body, and fluid replacement should be carried out based on these conditions.

(3) Children may also have their blood drawn to check for heart, liver, and kidney enzymes to help doctors determine if there is damage to other organs. The earlier the disease is discovered, the better the child's recovery.

3. Serum antibody test for rotavirus: Specific antibodies in the patient's serum are detected by immunological methods such as serum antibody test for rotavirus. If the antibody titer of the double serum samples in the acute phase and the recovery phase increases by 4 times, it has diagnostic significance.

4. Other examinations:

(1) Some children have severe diarrhea or prolonged diarrhea, poor treatment response, blood in the stool, or malnutrition. Further examinations are required, such as genetic metabolic disease screening, B-ultrasound or endoscopic examination (such as colonoscopy).

(2) Children with convulsions also need to undergo some neurological examinations to determine whether there are any intracranial problems. Or they may need to undergo a head CT scan to determine whether there is intracranial bleeding (some infants and young children with intracranial hemorrhage or intracranial tumors may experience diarrhea). When convulsions occur or the mental state is particularly bad, a lumbar puncture is also required to determine whether there is a neurological infection.