Dysentery

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Dysentery (formerly known as flux or the bloody flux) is the term for tenesmus (painful straining to pass stool), cramping, and frequent, small-volume severe diarrhea associated with blood in the feces.^[1] Symptoms frequently associated with dysentery include fever and malaise.

Dysentery has many causes, including cancer, but is typically associated with infection caused by the ingestion of food or water containing micro-organisms which cause significant inflammation of the intestinal lining. There are two major types: shigellosis, which is caused by one of several types of Shigella bacteria; and amoebic dysentery, caused by the amoeba Entamoeba histolytica. Kiyoshi Shiga discovered the dysentery bacteria in 1898.

Contents 1 Etiology 1.1 Amoebic dysentery 2 Symptoms 3 Treatment 3.1 Indigenous treatment 4 Cultural significance 5 References

[edit] Etiology

[edit] Amoebic dysentery

Amoebic dysentery is transmitted through contamination of drinking water, and is well known as a "traveler's dysentery" because of its prevalence in developing nations, or "Montezuma's Revenge" although it is occasionally seen in industrialized countries. Liver infection, and subsequent amoebic abscesses can occur. It is caused mainly by the protozoan Entamoeba histolytica. Amoebic dysentery can be treated with metronidazole.^[1]

[edit] Symptoms

A long term symptom of amoebic dysentery is lactose intolerance to dairy products, which usually lasts a few weeks but occasionally may be permanent.

Tiny organisms are spread through contaminated food and water when either is swallowed. Dysentery can also be spread by contaminated hands, from toddlers, because of their poor hygiene and close contact with other toddlers. From ingestion, they move into the intestines via the stomach. Amoebae spread by forming infective cysts which can be found in stools and spread if whoever touches them does not sanitize their hands. There are also free amoebae, or trophozoites, that do not form cysts. Symptoms are most likely to appear in places with poor hygiene.

[edit] Treatment

A required combination of drugs includes an amoebicide to kill the parasite, an antibiotic to treat any associated bacterial infection, and a drug to combat infection of the liver and other tissues. The amoeba can damage the villi and inhibit lactase production (for which there is no permanent treatment). Lactase can be taken orally to assist dairy absorption.

[edit] Indigenous treatment

The indigenous Oaxaca Chontal of the Mexican state of Oaxaca employed the plant Calea zacatechichi (also known as Dream Herb, Bitter Grass) as a cathartic anti-dysentery remedy.^[2]

The root of the Malay Apple tree (Syzygium Malaccense) may also be used.^[3]

[edit] Cultural significance

Dysentery was the cause of death of:

• Epicurus, the Greek philosopher (270 B.C.).
• Liu Bei, first emperor of the kingdom Shu Han (223).
• Henry the Young King of England (1183)
• King John of England (1216)
• King Louis VIII of France (1226)
• King Louis IX of France (1270)
• King Henry V of England (1422)
• Hernando Cortes, Spanish explorer (1547)
• Sir Francis Drake (1596)
• Maria Celeste, first daughter of Galileo Galilei (1634)
• Nathaniel Bacon (1676)
• Vincenzo Bellini, the composer (1835)
• Juana María, "The Lone Woman of San Nicolas" (1853).
• Many of the captured soldiers at Andersonville Prison during the American Civil War (1860–5).
• Texas Guinan, (1933), vaudeville star and silent film actress
• Many victims of concentration camps in World War II. Some Allied POWs also fell victim to dysentery while imprisoned by the Japanese Empire, especially those involved in the construction of what has become known as the Death Railway.
• The father of Elie Wiesel as depicted in his autobiography, Night. (1945)

Miscellaneous references:

• O. Uplavici was the fictional author of the article About dysentery whose name persisted in science literature for fifty years.
• Additionally, dying of dysentery has become a pop culture reference to the 1980s computer game, The Oregon Trail. The disease was one of several afflictions the player could die from.
• The band blink-182 has a song called "Dysentery Gary" in which diarrhea is mentioned.
• In the Woody Allen movie Annie Hall, Allen's character jokes that two leading intellectual magazines, Dissent and Commentary, had merged to form Dysentery. An oblique reference to intellectual pretense.
• In the movie Pulp Fiction, Captain Koons played by Christopher Walken informs a young Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) that his father had died from Dysentery after concealing a wrist watch inside of his anus for five years.
• Harrison Ford apparently suffered from it while filming Raiders of the Lost Ark in Tunisia; this partially resulted in his suggesting that rather than have an elaborate fight with an assassin, Indy should just shoot him- a now famous gag in the movie.
• In the video game "Gears of War" for the Xbox 360 the character Baird says "This shit will give me dysentery" referring to the food of the stranded people.