How long can travelers diarrhea last




















If you travel to a developing country, you are more likely to get this illness if you eat food or have drinks:.

The main symptom is loose stool that occurs suddenly. The stool may be watery. Other symptoms may include:. The loss of body fluid from diarrhea and vomiting can lead to dehydration. This can be serious. Contact your healthcare provider if you are not urinating as much as usual. A small number of people can develop post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome. This can cause symptoms such as:. Health Home Conditions and Diseases.

Diarrhea is the term for bowel movements that are loose or watery. Traveler's diarrhea occurs within 10 days of travel to an area with poor public hygiene. What causes traveler's diarrhea? Food and water can be infected by people: Not washing hands after using the bathroom Storing food unsafely Handling and preparing food unsafely Not cleaning surfaces and utensils safely Who is at risk for traveler's diarrhea?

Other symptoms may include: Nausea Vomiting Bloating Belly abdominal pain or cramps Blood in the stool Trouble waiting to have a bowel movement urgency Feeling tired Fever In most cases, symptoms last less than a week. How is traveler's diarrhea diagnosed? Your healthcare provider will ask about your health history and your symptoms.

He or she will ask about your recent travel. But, it's still possible to get sick even if you follow these rules. If it's not possible to buy bottled water or boil your water, bring some means to purify water. Consider a water-filter pump with a microstrainer filter that can filter out small microorganisms.

You can also chemically disinfect water with iodine or chlorine. Iodine tends to be more effective, but is best reserved for short trips, as too much iodine can be harmful to your system. You can purchase water-disinfecting tablets containing chlorine, iodine tablets or crystals, or other disinfecting agents at camping stores and pharmacies. Be sure to follow the directions on the package. Public health experts generally don't recommend taking antibiotics to prevent traveler's diarrhea, because doing so can contribute to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Antibiotics provide no protection against viruses and parasites, but they can give travelers a false sense of security about the risks of consuming local foods and beverages. They can also cause unpleasant side effects, such as skin rashes, skin reactions to the sun and vaginal yeast infections. As a preventive measure, some doctors suggest taking bismuth subsalicylate, which has been shown to decrease the likelihood of diarrhea.

However, don't take this medication for longer than three weeks, and don't take it at all if you're pregnant or allergic to aspirin. Talk to your doctor before taking bismuth subsalicylate if you're taking certain medications, such as anticoagulants. Common harmless side effects of bismuth subsalicylate include a black-colored tongue and dark stools. In some cases, it can cause constipation, nausea and, rarely, ringing in your ears tinnitus.

Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. This content does not have an English version. This content does not have an Arabic version. Overview Gastrointestinal tract Open pop-up dialog box Close.

Gastrointestinal tract Your digestive tract stretches from your mouth to your anus. Request an Appointment at Mayo Clinic. Share on: Facebook Twitter. Show references Feldman M, et al.

Infectious enteritis and proctocolitis. Untreated, symptoms may last for months, even in immunocompetent hosts. Stool microscopy, antigen detection, or immunofluorescence are used commonly to make the diagnosis. PCR-based diagnostics particularly the multiplex DNA extraction PCR are becoming the diagnostic method of choice to diagnose Giardia as well as other protozoan pathogens, including Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora , and Entamoeba histolytica.

Other rare causes of persistent symptoms include the intestinal parasites Microsporidia, Dientamoeba fragilis , and Cystoisospora. Individual bacterial infections rarely cause persistent symptoms, although ongoing diarrhea has been reported in travelers infected with enteroaggregative or enteropathogenic Escherichia coli and among people with diarrhea due to Clostridioides difficile.

Treatment of C. These syndromes are suspected to result from infectious diseases, but specific pathogens have not been identified. Tropical sprue is associated with deficiencies of vitamins absorbed in the proximal and distal small bowel and most commonly affects long-term travelers to, as the name implies, tropical areas.

The incidence of tropical sprue appears to have declined dramatically over the past 2 decades and is diagnosed only rarely in travelers. Brainerd diarrhea is one of the persistent mysteries of ongoing diarrhea. In some cases, persistence of gastrointestinal symptoms relates to chronic underlying gastrointestinal disease or to a susceptibility unmasked by the enteric infection.

Most prominent among these is celiac disease, a systemic disease manifesting primarily with small bowel changes. In genetically susceptible people, villous atrophy and crypt hyperplasia are seen in response to exposure to antigens found in wheat, leading to malabsorption. The diagnosis is made by obtaining serologic tests, including tissue transglutaminase antibodies. A biopsy of the small bowel showing villous atrophy confirms the diagnosis.

One prevailing hypothesis is that an initiating exogenous pathogen changes microbiota of the gut, which triggers inflammatory bowel disease in genetically susceptible people. Depending on the clinical setting and age group, it may be necessary to do a more comprehensive search for other underlying causes of chronic diarrhea.

Consider colorectal cancer in the differential diagnosis of patients passing occult or gross blood rectally or in those with new-onset iron-deficiency anemia. In a certain percentage of patients who present with persistent gastrointestinal symptoms, no specific source will be found. Following an acute diarrheal infection, patients may experience temporary enteropathy characterized by villous atrophy, decreased absorptive surface area, and disaccharidase deficiencies.

This can lead to osmotic diarrhea, particularly when large amounts of lactose, sucrose, sorbitol, or fructose are consumed. Use of antimicrobial medications during the initial days of diarrhea may also lead to alterations in intestinal flora and diarrhea symptoms.



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