Introduction
Gastrointestinal infections are also known as gastroenteritis in technical terms. In most cases, viruses are the triggers of gastroenteritis, but rarely they can also be caused by bacteria. The course of a viral gastroenteritis is usually milder than that of a bacterial infection. A gastrointestinal infection leads to an inflammation of the stomach and intestinal mucosa.
Symptoms
The symptoms of a gastrointestinal infection usually appear relatively suddenly. The most typical symptoms include vomiting and diarrhea. Sometimes the diarrhoea contains mucus or blood. The vomiting usually stops faster than the diarrhoea. The vomiting usually lasts for one or two days, while the diarrhoea can last for a week.
Cause
The cause of a gastrointestinal infection is usually a virus. There are some viruses in the foreground. These include noroviruses, rotaviruses, coronaviruses and adenoviruses.
The two most common triggers of a gastrointestinal infection are noroviruses and rotaviruses. Noroviruses, in particular, cause a severe course of disease, which can lead to circulatory problems due to fluid loss, especially in older people. Common bacterial pathogens are for example Campylobacter, Chlostridium difficile, Salmonella, Escherichia coli or Yersinia.
The bacterium responsible for the cholera disease also causes diarrhea, although this is more likely to occur in countries with poor hygienic conditions. The two most common pathogens for a gastrointestinal infection are the two viruses “Norovirus” and “Rotavirus”. The Norovirus is more likely to be responsible for an infection in older adults and occurs most frequently between October and March.
The rotavirus most frequently affects children under the age of 5, which is why an oral vaccine for infants has been developed. In addition, there are some bacteria that can cause diarrhoea. They are significantly less likely than the viruses to cause such an infection.
They include salmonella, which enters the body via contaminated food, or shigella, which occurs in contaminated water, for example. Further bacterial pathogens are the cholera bacteria, the yersinia and the campylobacter. All diarrheal diseases are characterized by a more severe course and additional symptoms, such as blood in the stool and a weakening similar to influenza.
They usually last much longer than a week and thus longer than a viral infection. Other reasons for a diarrheal disease are parasites. These include worms as well as amoebae, which almost always caused the disease during a tropical trip.
