April 20, 2024

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You may have inflammatory bowel disease if frequent fever and diarrhea

You may have inflammatory bowel disease if frequent fever and diarrhea

 

You may have inflammatory bowel disease if frequent fever and diarrhea.  What are the causes of inflammatory bowel disease?

Once a group of people have diarrhea, they will be endless and may also have abdominal pain, vomiting, blood in the stool, fever and other symptoms. They are patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

You may have inflammatory bowel disease if frequent fever and diarrhea

 

A case:

A patient suffering from inflammatory bowel disease. A few years ago, due to repeated fever for more than a month, the highest body temperature reached 38.5℃, and diarrhea 2-3 times a day. For this reason, he repeatedly visited the local hospital, but his condition has not improved. The doctor prescribed strong antibiotics and antifungal drugs for him. After his temperature improved slightly, he was discharged.

Unexpectedly, in less than two weeks, the patient developed fever again, the highest body temperature reached 40°C, diarrhea 6-7 times a day, and even bloody stools, and the weight dropped from 68kg to 56.2kg. Colonoscopy showed that the patient’s entire colon and the end of the small intestine had multiple ulcers ranging in size from 0.2cm to 2.0cm, which was diagnosed as Crohn’s disease.

You may have inflammatory bowel disease if frequent fever and diarrhea

Before treatment

You may have inflammatory bowel disease if frequent fever and diarrhea

After treatment

 

 


What are the causes of inflammatory bowel disease?

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) includes ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD). The etiology of this disease is still unclear. It is currently believed to be related to the environment, heredity, and intestinal microbes. The intestinal immune imbalance caused by the interaction of many factors such as ecology is related.


⦿ Environmental factors


In recent decades, the global incidence of inflammatory bowel disease has continued to increase. This phenomenon first appeared in North America and Europe, where the economy and society are highly developed. The incidence of inflammatory bowel disease among mental workers is significantly higher than that of manual workers. The change in the spectrum of this disease suggests that environmental factors have played an important role.

Smoking is closely related to the onset of inflammatory bowel disease. The risk of Crohn’s disease in patients with oral contraceptives is increased, which is proportional to the time of medication. The risk of inflammatory bowel disease in appendectomy and breastfeeding patients was lower than that in the control group. With the improvement of environmental conditions, people’s chances of contact with pathogenic bacteria are reduced, and the mucosal barrier function is weakened, so that no effective immune response can be produced against pathogenic bacteria.


⦿ Genetic factors


The incidence of inflammatory bowel disease has a genetic tendency. The incidence of first-degree relatives of patients is 30-100 times that of the general population. The incidence of monozygotic twins is significantly higher than that of double twins. The incidence of ulcerative colitis is 10% and 3, respectively. %, the incidence of Crohn’s disease is 30% and 7% respectively, indicating that inflammatory bowel disease has a certain genetic predisposition, but not 100% of single-egg twins are affected, suggesting that non-genetic factors also play an important role . Certain gene mutations have been confirmed to be related to the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease.


⦿ Intestinal microecology


The intestinal microecology of patients with inflammatory bowel disease is different from that of normal people. Animal models of inflammatory bowel disease must have an inflammatory response under the premise of the existence of intestinal microecology. Antibiotic treatment is effective for certain patients with inflammatory bowel disease. All indicate that the intestinal microecology plays an important role in the occurrence and development of inflammatory bowel disease.

 

⦿ Immunity imbalance


A variety of factors cause immune cell activation, increased secretion of inflammatory factors, and imbalance of inflammatory factors and anti-inflammatory factors, leading to continuous inflammation of the intestinal mucosa and damage to the barrier function.

 


What are the common symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease?


Ulcerative colitis can occur at any age, and the peak age of onset is 20-40 years old. Patients may suffer from recurrent abdominal pain, diarrhea, mucus and bloody stools or tenesmus (repeated toileting). Crohn’s disease is more common in adolescents. The peak age of onset is 18-35 years old.

Abdominal pain, diarrhea and weight loss are the most common symptoms. It can also be accompanied by fever and perianal abscess. In severe cases, there may be intestinal obstruction and intestinal fistula. Formation may also have extraintestinal manifestations such as joints, skin and mucous membranes, eyes, liver and gallbladder, and thrombus.

 


How to treat inflammatory bowel disease?

Due to the lack of specific clinical treatment methods and drugs, patients with inflammatory bowel disease often have repeated attacks and protracted symptoms, which not only causes great harm to the patient’s body and mind, but also brings a serious burden to the patient’s family and society.

Inflammatory bowel disease requires comprehensive diagnosis and standardized treatment due to its characteristics. However, there is still a lack of clinical diagnostic standards and specific treatment plans. Diagnosis and treatment of this disease has always been a difficult problem in the field of digestive diseases.

Early detection and early treatment of inflammatory bowel disease is very important. Many patients are already in serious condition when they are diagnosed. Many patients even have intestinal perforation, obstruction, and hemorrhage. The treatment will be very difficult, and every year. Many patients with inflammatory bowel disease have been misdiagnosed as enteritis, intestinal tuberculosis, intestinal malignant tumors and other diseases, delaying their condition. If inflammatory bowel disease is not treated in time, it may cause serious complications such as toxic megacolon, rectal cancer, intestinal perforation, and intestinal obstruction.

 

(source:internet, reference only)


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