What Should I Do If I Have Gastrointestinal Infection?
After gastrointestinal infection, patients may experience diarrhea and abdominal pain. It is important to rest well, control diet, and receive symptomatic treatment. Gastrointestinal infection should be promptly treated to prevent greater harm. Here are some guidelines:
After gastrointestinal infection, patients should rest in bed, keep warm, avoid abdominal exposure to cold, and take plenty of rest. They should also pay attention to work-rest balance and dietary control. Drinking plenty of water and eating liquid foods such as rice porridge, lotus root starch, and noodles is recommended. In case of severe diarrhea or excessive sweating, drinking more soup is advisable. During the recovery period, patients should eat nutritious liquid or semi-liquid foods in small meals, and avoid milk and sugary foods. Food hygiene should also be taken seriously. Symptomatic medication should be taken on time. For diarrhea, drugs such as montmorillonite powder can be used to relieve symptoms, and antibiotics should not be abused. Personal hygiene should be strengthened, including keeping the mouth clean and washing hands frequently. Attention should also be paid to stool characteristics, color, quantity, and frequency, as well as cleaning the buttocks after defecation. Urine volume, sweating, and dry mouth should also be monitored.
Enteroviruses that cause gastrointestinal infection include poliovirus, coxsackievirus, and ECHO virus, which belong to the enterovirus genus of the Picornaviridae family. These viruses are usually parasitic in the intestine and only enter the bloodstream or neural tissue in rare cases. Asymptomatic infection is common, and only a minority of infected individuals develop clinical symptoms.
Diagnosis of gastrointestinal infection relies on the detection of pathogens and antibodies. These viruses can be found in feces, blood, cerebrospinal fluid, spinal cord, conjunctival secretions, as well as lesions in the throat, brain, heart, liver, skin, and mucosa. Virus isolation can be achieved through tissue culture or animal inoculation, followed by identification using corresponding antisera. Rapid and sensitive methods for detecting antigens include immunofluorescence, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and nucleic acid hybridization. The diagnosis can be confirmed by detecting a four-fold or greater increase in antibody titers in acute and convalescent serum samples using neutralization tests, complement fixation tests, and hemagglutination inhibition tests.
