Gastroenteritis
Gastroenteritis is inflammation of the stomach and the small bowel usually caused by a viral infection, or by bacterial infection, or the effects of bacterial or other toxins. The symptoms are diarrhoea and vomiting. How quickly they occur, how severe there are and how long they last depend on the cause. Eating poisonous mushrooms may cause severe symptoms with collapse and convulsions within 15 minutes, while infestation with the agent giardia lamblia (which is present in contaminated water supplies) causes no symptoms for at least a week, and may cause none at all. While some agents may need treatment, most episodes are self-limiting and fluid replacement is all that is required. Care must be taken in fluid replacement in the tiny baby, since they can quickly become dehydrated with lax skin, rapid pulse and depressed fontanellae - the membrane - covered spaces in the skull where the bones have yet to fuse. The baby feels ‘floppy’. Seek help.
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