Diarrhoea

Diarrhoea is frequent discharge of watery faeces from the intestines, sometimes containing blood and mucus.

Diarrhoea due to infection may last a few days, or several weeks, as in persistent diarrhoea. Persistent diarrhoea may result in severe dehydration and shock. It is therefore necessary to replace the fluid lost by the body. Severe diarrhoea may be life threatening due to fluid loss in watery diarrhoea, particularly in infants and young children, the malnourished and people with impaired immunity.

Diarrhoea is a concomitant of many infectious diseases, especially typhoid fever, bacillary or amoebic dysentery, and cholera.
Diarrhoea is a symptom of infection by a host of bacterial, viral and parasitic organisms most of which can be spread by contaminated water.

It is a rare occurrence for most people who live in developed countries where sanitation is widely available, access to safe water is wide and personal and domestic hygiene is relatively good. Diarrhoea due to infection is widespread throughout the developing world. In Southeast Asia and Africa it is responsible for 8.5% and 7.7% of all deaths respectively. In 1998 it was estimated to have killed 2.2 million people, most of whom where under 5 years old (WHO, 2000).

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Sources:
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/diseases/diarrhoea/en/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diarrhoea
Picture:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2005-12%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=diarrhea