Dysentery is a disease that includes bloody diarrhea with mucus, abdominal pain, spasms in the rectal area when needing to use the bathroom, fever and dehydration. In fact, the fluid and electrolyte loss can cause such a severe dehydration, that untreated dysentery can be fatal. This is especially the case for the elderly and young children.
Entamoeba Histolytica
Entamoeba histolytica is a parasite. It causes dysentery in areas of the world that do not have good sanitation. In America, most people with dysentery have either recently visited an area where dysentery is prevalent or they are recent immigrants from an area that has dysentery, according to Richard Pearson, M.D., professor of medicine and pathology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in "The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals."
This parasite has two forms. One form, called a trophozoite, is very mobile. It invades the large intestines, kills the cells that form the lining of the intestines and kills the white blood cells that attack it. The second form is called a cyst. Some of the trophozoites will become cysts and leave the body through the bowel movements. The cysts can then spread from one person to another, or through the water or food. Some trophozoites also leave through the bowel movement, but they do not survive outside of a human body.
Shigella Dysenteriae
This microorganism is a gram-negative rod bacterium. Microbiologists classify bacteria by using a staining process called a gram stain. S. dysenteriae is gram negative because it does not hold on to the first stain of the process. It has the shape of a rod. Microbiologists refer to the dysentery caused by Shigella dysenteriae as shigellosis. In America, there are approximately 30,000 cases of shigellosis every year, writes John Ogle, M.D., director of the department of pediatrics at the Denver Health Medical Center in "Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Pediatrics."
Shigella dysenteriae has two toxins, or poisons. One toxin stops cells from making protein, stops the small intestines from absorbing protein and sugar, and affects the nervous system. The second toxin irritates the intestinal wall. Shigella leaves the body through the bowel movements for approximately two weeks after people stop having symptoms. It spreads from one person to another through water, food and contaminated swimming pools.
Balantidium Coli
This parasite causes the balantidiasis dysentery. It is the largest protozoan, or one-celled microorganism, that invades the intestines. Balantidium coli has two forms. If someone swallows the cyst form, the walls of the cyst dissolve and the cyst releases the trophozoite. The trophozoite form then goes to the large intestines, reproduces and makes cysts that leave in the bowel movements. Some of the trophozoites invade the wall of the intestines, making abscesses and ulcers. Some people may continually alternate between diarrhea and constipation. Others develop dysentery.
This parasite is found throughout the world. People develop dysentery by accidentally eating the cysts. Pig farmers and people who work in slaughterhouses are especially at risk because the cysts can be in the bowel movement of pigs, as explained by George Brooks, M.D., professor of laboratory medicine and microbiology and immunology at the University of California in "Jawetz, Melnick & Adelberg's Medical Microbiology."
References
- "Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Pediatrics"; William Hay, Jr., M.D., Myron Levin, M.D., Judith Sondheimer, M.D., Robin Deterding, M.D.; 2009
- "Jawetz, Melnick & Adelberg's Medical Microbiology"; George Brooks, M.D., Karen Carroll, M.D., Janet Butel, Ph.D., Stephen Morse, Ph.D.; 2007
- The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals: Amebiasis
