Definition of Acute Diarrhea
Diarrhea means having over three loose bowel movements a day.
Acute (Latin acutus = sharp, pointed) diarrhea, by definition, lasts less than 3 weeks (1).
Causes of Acute Diarrhea
A) Acute INFECTIOUS Diarrhea
- Bacterial diarrhea usually occurs in food poisoning due to infection with bacteria like E. coli or salmonella.
- Parasitic diarrhea may be due to intestinal worms, or one-cell parasites like Entamoeba hystolytica, or giardia.
- Viral diarrhea mainly affects small children in kinder-gartens due to stool-to-mouth infection from other children, or (in poor countries) due to infection by water, contaminated by rotavirus.
