Enteritis is an inflammation of the small intestine that can worsen and affect the stomach, causing gastroenteritis, or the large intestine, leading to the onset of colitis.
The causes of enteritis may be the consumption of food or beverages contaminated with bacteria, such as Salmonella, viruses or parasites; certain medications such as ibuprofen or naproxen; use of drugs, such as cocaine; radiation therapy or autoimmune diseases, such as Crohn’s disease.
Enteritis can be classified by its types
Some risk factors, such as recent trips to poorly equipped areas, untreated and contaminated water consumption, contact with people who have had a history of diarrhea recently, increase the risk of enteritis.
Symptoms of enteritis include:
In the presence of these symptoms, the individual should consult the doctor to diagnose enteritis and begin treatment, avoiding complications.
Your doctor doesn’t always order tests because only symptoms may be enough to make the diagnosis, but in some cases, the tests you may order are blood and stool tests, to identify the type of microorganism involved, a colonoscopy, and, more rarely, imaging tests such as CT and MRI.
The treatment of enteritis consists of a break and diet based on banana, rice, applesauce and toast for 2 days, it is also recommended to eat large amounts of liquids such as water or tea, or homemade serum, to avoid dehydration of the body.People with Crohn’s disease may need to take anti-inflammatory medications.In the most severe cases, hospitalization may be necessary to hydrate the body intravenously.
Enteritis usually goes away after 5 or 8 days and treatment usually involves drinking large amounts of water to hydrate the body.
Antibiotics such as amoxicillin can be taken in bacterial enteritis to remove bacteria responsible for infection; antidiarrheal remedies such as Diasec or Imosec should be avoided as they may delay the release of the microorganism responsible for infection of the intestinal tract.
See what you can eat during treatment to recover faster
You should return to your doctor if you have symptoms such as:
In these situations, your doctor may recommend or replace the antibiotic used and hospitalization may be needed to combat dehydration, which is more common in infants and the elderly.