enteritis

Enteritis is a collective term for gastroenteritis, enteritis of the small intestine, and colitis caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. Clinical manifestations include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, watery stools, or mucopurulent bloody stools; some patients may have fever and tenesmus. Enteritis is divided into acute and chronic types according to the duration of the disease. Chronic enteritis generally lasts more than two months; common clinical types include chronic bacillary dysentery, chronic amebic dysentery, schistosomiasis, nonspecific ulcerative colitis, and regional enteritis. Enteritis is extremely common, with an annual global incidence of about 3-5 billion cases, with higher morbidity and mortality rates especially in developing countries, particularly among children. According to WHO statistics, in developing countries, infectious diarrhea is the most common infectious disease in children, with a mortality rate of about 2%; in Asia, Africa, and Latin America alone, it claims the lives of about 4.6 million infants and young children each year.