Cholera history and symptoms: Difference between revisions
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==Overview== | ==Overview== | ||
Choleria is a severe bacterial gastrointestinal, diarrheal disease. In its most severe forms, cholera is one of the most rapidly fatal illnesses known. A healthy person may become [[hypotension|hypotensive]] within an hour of the onset of symptoms and may die within 2-3 hours if no treatment is provided. More commonly, the disease progresses from the first liquid stool to shock in 4-12 hours, with death following in 18 hours to several days without [[rehydration]] treatment.<ref name=McLeod_2000>{{cite journal |author=McLeod K |title=Our sense of Snow: John Snow in medical geography |journal=Soc Sci Med |volume=50 |issue=7-8 |pages=923-35 |year=2000 |pmid = 10714917}}</ref><ref> WHO Cholera [http://www.who.int/topics/cholera/control/en/index.html]</ref> | Choleria is a severe bacterial gastrointestinal, diarrheal disease. In its most severe forms, cholera is one of the most rapidly fatal illnesses known. A healthy person may become [[hypotension|hypotensive]] within an hour of the onset of symptoms and may die within 2-3 hours if no treatment is provided. More commonly, the disease progresses from the first liquid stool to shock in 4-12 hours, with death following in 18 hours to several days without [[rehydration]] treatment.<ref name=McLeod_2000>{{cite journal |author=McLeod K |title=Our sense of Snow: John Snow in medical geography |journal=Soc Sci Med |volume=50 |issue=7-8 |pages=923-35 |year=2000 |pmid = 10714917}}</ref><ref> WHO Cholera [http://www.who.int/topics/cholera/control/en/index.html]</ref> | ||
==History and symptoms== | ==History and symptoms== | ||
===History=== | ===History=== | ||
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* Symptoms usually develop 24-48 hours of consumption. | * Symptoms usually develop 24-48 hours of consumption. | ||
* Recent travel to a cholera endemic area may be present. | * Recent travel to a cholera endemic area may be present. | ||
===Symptoms=== | ===Symptoms=== | ||
====Diarrhea==== | ====Diarrhea==== | ||
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* Watery consistency (initially it may have some fecal matter but with disease progression it is mostly watery) | * Watery consistency (initially it may have some fecal matter but with disease progression it is mostly watery) | ||
* It is pale white in color and thus sometimes referred as 'Rice water stool'(this is so because it has similar color and consistency as water left after washing stool) | * It is pale white in color and thus sometimes referred as 'Rice water stool'(this is so because it has similar color and consistency as water left after washing stool) | ||
* Voluminous (stool volume during cholera is more than that of any other infectious diarrhea causing uncontrolled bowel movements) | * Voluminous (stool volume during cholera is more than that of any other infectious diarrhea causing uncontrolled bowel movements). An untreated person with cholera may produce 10–20 [[litre]]s of diarrhea a day with fatal results. | ||
* Abdominal cramp (due to large volume of intestinal secretion) | * Abdominal cramp (due to large volume of intestinal secretion) | ||
* For every symptomatic person, three to 100 people get the infection but remain asymptomatic.<ref>{{cite journal |author=King AA, Ionides EL, J.Luckhurst, Bouma MJ |title=Inapparent infections and cholera dynamics |journal=Nature |volume=454 |issue=7206 |pages=877–80 |year=2008 |month=August |pmid=18704085 |doi=10.1038/nature07084 |url=}}</ref> | * For every symptomatic person, three to 100 people get the infection but remain asymptomatic.<ref>{{cite journal |author=King AA, Ionides EL, J.Luckhurst, Bouma MJ |title=Inapparent infections and cholera dynamics |journal=Nature |volume=454 |issue=7206 |pages=877–80 |year=2008 |month=August |pmid=18704085 |doi=10.1038/nature07084 |url=}}</ref> | ||
====Vomiting==== | ====Vomiting==== | ||
* Causes for vomiting are decreased intestinal motility and acidemia | * Causes for vomiting are decreased intestinal motility and acidemia | ||
====Muscle cramp==== | ====Muscle cramp==== | ||
* If the severe diarrhea and vomiting are not aggressively treated, they can, within hours, result in life-threatening [[dehydration]] and electrolyte imbalances. The typical symptoms of dehydration include dizziness ( due to low [[blood pressure]]), (wrinkled hands) (poor skin turgor) , sunken eyes, mucle cramps (decreased potassium), and decreased urine output. | * If the severe diarrhea and vomiting are not aggressively treated, they can, within hours, result in life-threatening [[dehydration]] and electrolyte imbalances. The typical symptoms of dehydration include dizziness ( due to low [[blood pressure]]), (wrinkled hands) (poor skin turgor) , sunken eyes, mucle cramps (decreased potassium), and decreased urine output. | ||
* Cholera has been nicknamed the "blue death" due to a patient's skin turning a bluish-gray hue from extreme loss of fluids.<ref>McElroy, Ann and Patricia K. Townsend. Medical Anthropology in Ecological Perspective. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2009, 375.</ref> | |||
====Fever==== | |||
* Fever is usually absent. | |||
== References == | == References == | ||
Revision as of 14:13, 3 April 2012
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [2]
Overview
Choleria is a severe bacterial gastrointestinal, diarrheal disease. In its most severe forms, cholera is one of the most rapidly fatal illnesses known. A healthy person may become hypotensive within an hour of the onset of symptoms and may die within 2-3 hours if no treatment is provided. More commonly, the disease progresses from the first liquid stool to shock in 4-12 hours, with death following in 18 hours to several days without rehydration treatment.[1][2]
History and symptoms
History
- Patient may give a history of consumption of contaminated food or water.
- Symptoms usually develop 24-48 hours of consumption.
- Recent travel to a cholera endemic area may be present.
Symptoms
Diarrhea
- Sudden onset
- Painless
- Odorless
- Watery consistency (initially it may have some fecal matter but with disease progression it is mostly watery)
- It is pale white in color and thus sometimes referred as 'Rice water stool'(this is so because it has similar color and consistency as water left after washing stool)
- Voluminous (stool volume during cholera is more than that of any other infectious diarrhea causing uncontrolled bowel movements). An untreated person with cholera may produce 10–20 litres of diarrhea a day with fatal results.
- Abdominal cramp (due to large volume of intestinal secretion)
- For every symptomatic person, three to 100 people get the infection but remain asymptomatic.[3]
Vomiting
- Causes for vomiting are decreased intestinal motility and acidemia
Muscle cramp
- If the severe diarrhea and vomiting are not aggressively treated, they can, within hours, result in life-threatening dehydration and electrolyte imbalances. The typical symptoms of dehydration include dizziness ( due to low blood pressure), (wrinkled hands) (poor skin turgor) , sunken eyes, mucle cramps (decreased potassium), and decreased urine output.
- Cholera has been nicknamed the "blue death" due to a patient's skin turning a bluish-gray hue from extreme loss of fluids.[4]
Fever
- Fever is usually absent.
References
- ↑ McLeod K (2000). "Our sense of Snow: John Snow in medical geography". Soc Sci Med. 50 (7–8): 923–35. PMID 10714917.
- ↑ WHO Cholera [1]
- ↑ King AA, Ionides EL, J.Luckhurst, Bouma MJ (2008). "Inapparent infections and cholera dynamics". Nature. 454 (7206): 877–80. doi:10.1038/nature07084. PMID 18704085. Unknown parameter
|month=ignored (help) - ↑ McElroy, Ann and Patricia K. Townsend. Medical Anthropology in Ecological Perspective. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2009, 375.