Q. What are symptoms of infections of the intestine?
A. Acute gastro-intestinal infections are most commonly viral and present with diarrhoea, vomiting, abdominal pain, fever of short duration (1-7 days). They are most likely caused by viruses and are usually self-limiting. Antibiotics are not needed in such cases for treatment.
Q. How can these infections be prevented?
A. Preferably, food cooked at home should be eaten. Outside, only properly cooked food should be consumed. Raw food items like salads, fruits, fruit juices should be avoided when eating out. Water consumed outside should be filtered or bottled.
Q. How does typhoid spread and how does the patient present?
A. Typhoid is spread due to consumption of contaminated food/water. The patient has fever, nausea, abdominal pain and severe weakness. Complications like intestinal perforation, decrease in the counts, worsening of liver functions can occur if antibiotics are not started early in the course of disease. The dose of antibiotics is higher than normal gastrointestinal infections.
