Cholera history and symptoms
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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)
- Abdominal cramp (due to large volume of intestinal secretion)
- Fever is usually absent
Vomiting
- Causes for vomiting are decreased intestinal motility and acidemia