Is gastrointestinal flu contagious? What should I do?

But everyone is familiar with colds. In daily life, the disease we often encounter is colds. So have you heard of gastrointestinal colds? Stomach cold is a type of viral cold. It is mainly caused by a virus called Kesaki virus and is also accompanied by bacterial mixed infection. Stomach cold in medicine. Common symptoms are bloating, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, feeling weak, and sometimes fainting. This kind of cold can cause dehydration, electrolyte imbalance and damage to the immune system. However, you must never use antidiarrheal drugs for treatment, as this will not only fail to relieve the symptoms, but will delay the disease. So what should you do if you catch a gastrointestinal cold?

1. Causes

The main cause of gastrointestinal colds comes from external stimuli and other factors, and it occurs more frequently when the weather changes from cold to warm. This is due to the irritation of the stomach and intestines by cold air, coupled with abnormal living habits and poor diet. Gastrointestinal colds are different from gastroenteritis. The main difference is that patients with acute gastroenteritis often have a history of unclean food, severe nausea and vomiting, and the vomitus often has a pungent odor, but generally do not have fever symptoms. Many people often mistakenly treat gastrointestinal cold as acute gastroenteritis at the beginning of its onset.

2. Clinical manifestations

The most common causes of "gastrointestinal cold" are viral infections and allergic reactions to food. Once bacteria and viruses invade the throat and cause inflammation, they will be swallowed into the stomach and intestines along with saliva, causing gastrointestinal discomfort. The symptoms are as follows:

1. Vomiting

When pathogens or other toxic substances enter the stomach, the stomach muscles are stimulated to contract and the stomach contents are expelled from the body.

2. Diarrhea

It is mainly because the gastrointestinal tract is irritated and secretions increase significantly, affecting the absorption function, causing excessive water in the intestinal cavity, and intestinal peristalsis also increases, so the stools discharged are loose stools.

3. Abdominal pain

The pain is felt because the intestinal peristalsis is twice as fast as normal, or the mucosa on the intestinal wall becomes red, swollen and painful due to inflammation.

examine

After the onset of the disease, you should go to the hospital for laboratory tests such as blood and stool tests. If necessary, related tests such as liver function should also be performed to rule out lesions caused by other pathogens, such as enteritis, bacillary dysentery, infectious hepatitis, etc.

3. Diagnose based on symptoms and related examinations.

1. Vomiting

A reflex action in which gastric contents are refluxed into the esophagus and vomited out through the mouth. It can be divided into three stages, namely nausea, retching and vomiting, but some vomiting may occur without nausea or retching beforehand. Vomiting can spit out harmful substances swallowed into the stomach. It is a defensive reflex of the body and has a certain protective effect, but most people are not caused by it. Frequent and severe vomiting can cause complications such as dehydration and electrolyte imbalance.

2. Diarrhea

It is a common symptom, which means that the frequency of bowel movements is significantly higher than the usual frequency, the feces are thin, the water content is increased, the daily stool volume exceeds 200g, or contains undigested food or pus, blood, or mucus. Diarrhea is often accompanied by symptoms such as the urge to defecate, anal discomfort, and incontinence. Diarrhea can be divided into two categories: acute and chronic. Acute diarrhea develops rapidly and lasts for 2 to 3 weeks. Chronic diarrhea refers to recurrent diarrhea with a course of more than two months or an interval of 2 to 4 weeks.

3. Abdominal pain

It refers to lesions of organs inside and outside the abdominal cavity caused by various reasons, which manifest as abdominal pain. Abdominal pain can be divided into acute and chronic types. The causes are extremely complex, including inflammation, tumors, hemorrhage, obstruction, perforation, trauma and functional disorders.