What are the symptoms and treatment of infantile dysentery?

Infant dysentery is a common disease in infancy. The general symptoms of dysentery in infants include diarrhea, fever, etc. It may also cause blood in the stool or low fever. It can be treated with medication. You can take some Chinese medicine for conditioning. Pay attention to the baby's feeding method and food intake. Drinking more water can help the baby's intestines to be unobstructed.

Symptoms of dysentery in children

(1) Incubation period: several hours to 7 days, usually 1-2 days.

(2) Common type: acute onset, high fever, more than 10 bowel movements per day with mucus, pus and blood in the stool, and a feeling of heaviness and sinking after defecation. The child suffers from general fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and paroxysmal abdominal pain.

(3) Mild: No fever or low fever, stool (3 to 4 times a day) with little pus or blood or mostly mucus, no obvious systemic symptoms. The condition will improve within 2 to 3 days.

(4) Severe: The patient has dozens of bowel movements per day with pus and blood in the stool, tenesmus, severe abdominal pain, accompanied by vomiting, dehydration, and alcohol poisoning. The systemic symptoms are not severe.

(5) Toxic type: more common in children aged 2 to 7 years old. The onset is acute, with high fever, convulsions, coma, shock, respiratory failure, etc. Symptoms of systemic poisoning are obvious, and intestinal symptoms usually appear within 24 to 36 hours. This type of disease is more serious.

(6) Chronic dysentery: The course of the disease is more than 2 months, and it is common in infants and young children with malnutrition, rickets, and anemia, or acute dysentery, which is atypical and has not been properly treated. It is prolonged and leads to normal body temperature or low fever, irregular stool nature, mucus, or alternating mucus, pus and blood.

Treatment of dysentery in children

1. Clearing heat and removing dampness : Acute bacillary dysentery is mostly damp-heat dysentery. 60 cases of acute bacillary dysentery were treated with modified Shaoyao Decoction. The results showed that the effects were better than those of the control group (compound sulfamethoxazole, oral) in terms of body temperature recovery, disappearance of main symptoms, recovery of routine bowel movements, conversion of stool culture to negative, improvement of peripheral blood count and toxic and side effects. This prescription is based on white peony root, scutellaria baicalensis, coptis root, phellodendron, areca catechu, purslane and magnolia officinalis, and can be added or subtracted according to symptoms. It has the effects of clearing the intestines and eliminating dampness, harmonizing Qi and blood, and relieving bowel movements and relieving stagnation. Pharmacological studies have shown that Scutellaria baicalensis, Coptis chinensis, Phellodendron amurense, Portulaca oleracea, etc. all have anti-Shigella dysenteriae effects; White Peony Root has the effects of inhibiting Shigella dysenteriae, relieving spasms and relieving pain; Costus root and Areca nut enhance intestinal peristalsis and relieve gastrointestinal flatulence; Areca nut can also inhibit abnormal fermentation in the intestine and promote the excretion of inflammatory exudates. [1] Chen Zhongzhou used Kushen Xiebai Decoction (Kushen, Xiebai, Crataegus pinnatifida, Angelica sinensis, Aucklandia lappa, Licorice, White Peony Root, etc.) to treat 78 cases of dysentery, with an overall effective rate of 95%. This prescription makes use of a large amount of Sophora flavescens, which can clear away dampness and heat in the intestines. Modern research shows that the sophora flavescens contained in Sophora flavescens has anti-Shigella dysenteriae effects. Xiebaitou is pungent, smooth and slippery, and has the function of warming the middle and promoting yang, and can transform foul and turbid air; costus root and angelica root promote blood circulation and regulate qi, while white peony root and licorice relieve urgency and stop pain. These medicines together have the function of clearing away heat, transforming dampness, detoxifying, regulating qi, promoting blood circulation and relieving stagnation.

2. Use of both cold and warm properties : Liu Baixiang et al. used Jiawei Jiaoai Pills to treat 101 cases of bacillary dysentery in children, with satisfactory results. The prescription is composed of black plum, mugwort leaf, Sichuan pepper, red ochre, dried ginger, betel nut, scutellaria baicalensis, and coptis chinensis. The whole prescription has both cold and warm properties, and has the functions of drying dampness, invigorating the spleen, and removing stagnation and clearing dysentery. Modern medical research shows that Sichuan pepper, mugwort leaves, and dried ginger are gastrokinetic drugs that can promote the recovery of gastrointestinal function; black plums change the acidity and alkalinity of the gastrointestinal tract, which is not conducive to bacterial reproduction and growth; coptis chinensis and scutellaria baicalensis have a powerful killing effect on Shigella dysenteriae; red ochre has an adsorption effect, which can absorb a large amount of pathological products, excrete them out of the body, and alleviate the symptoms of systemic poisoning. Ma Hongyuan used Banxia Xiexin Decoction, which has the function of pungent in opening and bitter in lowering, combining cold and warm, and both tonifying and purging, to treat this disease and achieved good results.