- Diarrhea means having over three loose bowel movements a day.
- Acute (Latin acutus = sharp, pointed) diarrhea, by definition, lasts less than 3 weeks (1).
Causes of Acute Diarrhea
A) Acute INFECTIOUS Diarrhea
- Bacterial diarrhea usually occurs in food poisoningdue to infection with bacteria like E. coli or salmonella.
- Parasitic diarrhea may be due to intestinal worms, or one-cell parasiteslike Entamoeba hystolytica, or giardia.
- Viral diarrhea mainly affect small children in kinder-gartens due to stool-to-mouth infection from other children, or (in poor countries) due to infection by water, contaminated by rotavirus.
B) Acute NON-INFECTIOUS Diarrhea
- Food allergies may affect children or adults. Main causes are wheat, eggs, cow milk, soy, fish, shellfish, peanuts, and tree-nuts, but can be virtually any food.
- Fish poisoning. Both ciguatera poisoning by big tropical fish like barracuda or meckerel, and scombroid poisoning by non-properly stored fish are common.
- Psychic stress may cause sudden diarrhea.
- Antibiotic-associated diarrhea may appear few days or several weeks after start of treatment with antibiotics by mouth.
- Medications like laxatives or magnesium antacids stimulate bowel motility.
- Chemotherapy and irradiation damage cells in intestinal lining.
- Mushrooms (even non-poisonous), and poisonous plants like foxglove or oleander may cause severe diarrhea.
- Pesticides, ingested or inhaled may cause severe diarrhea.
- Ingestion of heavy metals like arsenic or mercury may cause severe diarrhea.
- Runner's diarrhea often affects long-distance runners.
- Diarrhea may appear in women before child-birth.
