Diarrhea is a common disease in our country, but did you know that sometimes diarrhea can be caused by AIDS. AIDS patients often have diarrhea, so what are the causes of AIDS diarrhea and what are the characteristics?
Many people don't associate diarrhea with AIDS.
In fact, AIDS can also cause diarrhea. Do you know why? Just look at it.
Causes of AIDS diarrhea
AIDS diarrhea symptoms caused by AIDS are mainly caused by the immune system, after HIV infection, the immune system is weakened, and the body is easily attacked by some external viruses or bacteria from the body, thus causing some physical pathologies.
Among them, diarrhea is the main gastrointestinal manifestation of AIDS patients, especially in developing countries and tropical areas, the incidence of diarrhea can be as high as 90%. Diarrhea accounts for 27~36% of the AIDS patients treated by the Tanzania National Medical Center, and the pathogens are related to Cryptosporidium, amoeba, bacillus dysentery, typhoid bacillus, cytomegalovirus, fungi and other infections.
Characteristics of AIDS diarrhea
1. The frequency of bowel movements significantly exceeds the frequency of daily habits, the feces are thin, the water increases, the daily bowel movement exceeds 200g, or contains undigested food or pus, blood and mucus. Diarrhea is often accompanied by symptoms such as urgency to defecate, anal discomfort, and incontinence.
2. It is divided into two categories: acute and chronic. The onset of acute diarrhea is acute, and the course of the disease is within 2~3 weeks. Chronic diarrhea refers to recurrent diarrhea with a course of more than 2 months or an intermittent period of 2~4 weeks.
3. The effect of drug treatment for diarrhea in the window period of AIDS is not obvious, and it generally lasts for 1-2 weeks to heal itself. In the case of AIDS diarrhea, it is necessary to find out the cause and prescribe the right medicine, otherwise it will be life-threatening if it is not cured.
What to do if you have severe diarrhea
Severe diarrhea can lead to electrolyte imbalances in the body, dehydration, and can be dangerous. In addition to seeking medical attention in a timely manner, you should drink more water, eat more nutritious and easy-to-digest foods, and do not reduce food intake by stopping diarrhea.
It should be noted that after HIV infection, there may be various non-specific symptoms, and only some patients may have them, so it is not possible to determine whether they are infected with AIDS by not having diarrhea.
1. Non-specific symptoms:
In the early stage of HIV infection, some patients may have non-specific symptoms such as fatigue, fever, night sweats, diarrhea, rash, and swollen lymph nodes, which can generally resolve spontaneously after 1-3 weeks, so it is considered that the non-specific symptoms are caused by HIV virus.
2. Specific symptoms:
1. Swollen lymph nodes: swollen lymph nodes are a characteristic symptom of AIDS infection, which generally appears in the acute stage of AIDS, and the patient's lymphadenopathy occurs in the neck, armpits, groin and other parts;
2. Gastrointestinal symptoms: patients may have diarrhea, diarrhea may occur at any stage of AIDS infection, most patients will appear in the acute stage, the symptoms are generally mild, and non-specific, can be relieved by themselves, if the symptoms are severe, need to be treated with antiviral drugs under the guidance of a doctor;
3. Rash: patients may have a rash, which can appear in all parts of the body without obvious itching or pain, and can subside on its own in 2-4 weeks;
4. Joint symptoms: joint pain may also occur, which generally has no obvious specificity, which is different from ordinary arthritis;
5. Neurological symptoms: Some patients may also have headaches and neurological symptoms, such as hallucinations and unresponsiveness.
If the patient has these symptoms, it is recommended to go to the hospital for further testing, including HIV antibody screening test, HIV supplementation test, etc., to confirm the diagnosis.