Clinical features

Majority of bacterial gastroenteritides will resolve spontaneously.

Presentations include:

• diarrhoea
  • bloody - Campylobacter spp, Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) (EHEC OI57 Shiga toxin-producing – STEC)
  • mucoid - Yersinia enterocolitica
• abdominal pain
• abdominal tenderness
• fever
• nausea
• vomiting
• malaise (1)

It is common for there to be an alteration in bowel habit for many months after bacterial gastroenteritis. At six months:

• a quarter will have a tendency to looser stool and faecal urgency
• one in 14 patients will have the classical features of the irritable bowel syndrome

Reference:

• (1) Ciccarelli S, Stolfi I, Caramia G. Management strategies in the treatment of neonatal and pediatric gastroenteritis. Infection and Drug Resistance. 2013;6:133-161.