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Gastroenteritis

Gastroenteritis acuta · Střevní chřipka (gastroenteritida)

What it is

Norovirus, rotavirus, campylobacter and friends — usually self-limiting.

Symptoms & signs

  • Vomiting
  • watery diarrhoea
  • cramps
  • fever
  • dehydration

🚩 Get help if…

  • call 112 / 911 now Very drowsy, floppy or not passing urine for 12 hours
  • call 112 / 911 now Vomiting blood or green bile, or severe belly pain
  • see a doctor soon Blood in the diarrhoea or fever over 39 °C
  • see a doctor soon Diarrhoea over 7 days or vomiting over 2 days

Where it strikes

Medical treatment

  • Oral rehydration salts
  • ondansetron for vomiting in children
  • antibiotics only for specific bacteria
  • IV fluids if severe

Natural & lifestyle

  • Rehydration is the treatment
  • normal eating as tolerated (restrictive BRAT diets are no longer advised)
  • hand hygiene
  • rotavirus vaccine — far fewer hospital admissions, a small intussusception risk
  • Saccharomyces boulardii probiotic — a modest shortening of diarrhoea in some trials mixed evidence

Emerging & experimental

  • Antivirals for norovirus
  • next-generation norovirus vaccines

Alternative, off-label & anecdotal

Approaches used outside the guidelines, with what their supporters report and what testing has found so far.

  • Zinc for children with diarrhoea — WHO-recommended; shortens diarrhoea where diets are poor trials support
  • Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG in children — two large 2018 trials found no benefit not confirmed in trials
  • Ginger for nausea — small trials early / small studies
  • Cola or flat lemonade to rehydrate — too much sugar and too little salt; oral rehydration salts work better anecdotal / traditional

ICD codes