Index
We are talking about an intestinal infection accompanied by cramps, diarrhea, nausea, fever and vomiting.
One of the acute viral illnesses, rotavirus infection or intestinal flu, is caused by all kinds of bacteria and parasites, but in most cases it is the virus from a group of rotaviruses.
They enter the body, enter the gastrointestinal tract and begin to multiply, destroying the villi in the small intestine.
In this sense, foods that are not properly digested in the intestine accumulate a large amount of water and salt solutions, causing severe diarrhea and dehydration.
All the initial symptoms are very similar to those of the common flu, hence the name. The incubation period of the disease can last from several hours to 2 days. The acute phase can progress to weeks and a full recovery will take approximately 5 days.
Causes of intestinal flu
The most common causes of this disease are dirty hands, unwashed fruits and vegetables, and poor-quality food eaten. You can become infected from drinking contaminated water, especially water.
Pollution can occur through airborne droplets. A sick person when he talks, coughs or sneezes, spreads germs and infects others.
The infection is easily spread in public places such as kindergartens, schools, universities, or stores. Enough to touch the items, which were sick, and germs are easily transmitted to a healthy person.
In life you can get it by using just one plate. The intestinal virus is very resistant to low and high temperatures, to destroy it, you should use only the concentrated disinfectant that contains chlorine.
Symptoms and signs of intestinal flu
Signs of the gastrointestinal flu appear quickly and abruptly. At the initial stage of the disease manifests itself:
- A runny nose
- Mild pain in the throat, especially when swallowing.
Also, the patient may be a little coughing and sneezing.
After a few hours, the initial symptoms disappear and the patient begins to feel abdominal pain, cramps, and noises. Body temperature rises, the patient feels dizzy, vomits, may open vomiting.
All this is happening against the background of severe indigestion. The abundant liquid stools, and acrid smell, can be repeated up to 10 times a day.
All these signs are very similar to the manifestation of other diseases, so it is advisable as soon as possible to seek the advice of a doctor to make the correct diagnosis and prescribe treatment.
Self-medication can cause dehydration and other complications from the flu.
Intestinal flu in adults and children can last up to 10 days. During this time, due to the weakness and decreased appetite of the patient, he may lose a lot of weight, and the level of hemoglobin in the blood and blood pressure may decrease.
In most cases, this disease can be infected with young children who are pulling their mouths, especially those who have a weak immune system.
Throughout life, people can get sick repeatedly with the intestinal flu, but it will flow more and more easily and recovery will be faster.
Treatment of intestinal flu
If abdominal flu occurs in young children, parents should make sure they are not alone and choke on their own vomit. The pillow should be positioned so that it rises a little, the baby’s head during sleep should be turned on its side all the time.
You can feed it soup, cooked with water, liquid porridges, and mashed potatoes with vegetables. In the heavy form of influenza in children they are best treated in the hospital.
Treatment of the disease should be aimed at reducing the toxicity of the body. In the initial stage, you can dissolve 1 sachet of regidrone in a liter of boiled water and drink this solution every 30 minutes throughout the day.
Sorbents must be accepted by the patient, for example smectite, polysorb, or activated charcoal. For very severe diarrhea with high fever, the doctor may prescribe enteral or furazolidone.
You should still take medicines that have digestive enzymes, for example, pancreatin, creon, or mezim forte. After the acute form of the disease, it will be necessary to restore the microflora of the intestine, suitable drugs such as bifiform, hilak forte, linex or.
The dosage and course of treatment of all drugs that the doctor prescribes individually in each case, depending on the condition.
During treatment the diet should be strictly followed, all dairy products should be excluded from the diet. The patient can prepare the chicken broth, rice or buckwheat porridge in the water. You should eat small portions, so as not to cause vomiting.
To prevent dehydration, preferably every day, drink up to 2 liters of liquid. It can be a tea or a decoction of the berries of rose hips, raspberries or currants, but it is better adapted to slightly salty water, in small portions during the day.
Precautionary measures
Personal hygiene to prevent intestinal flu flu prevention includes, above all, compliance with the elementary rules of personal hygiene.
Make sure to wash your hands with soap before eating and after using the toilet, especially public ones. If there is a patient, you should avoid contact with him.
If you have to care for such a patient, it is impossible to eat with him from a plate. It is necessary to control the cleanliness of all the things you enjoy, and for the hygiene of the patient.
If it is not possible to isolate the patient at the time of the disease, then in the room where he is located, daily cleaning with disinfectants should be carried out.
Special attention should be paid to cleanliness when cooking. Wash all fresh vegetables, fruits, and berries well. You cannot use inferior quality dairy products, you should only drink purified or boiled water. When swimming in a pool or pond, you cannot swallow the water.
Any illness is better to be safe than not to suffer from the exhausting symptoms that cause intestinal flu.
