osmotic diarrhea

diarrhea /di·ar·rhea/ (-re´ah) abnormally frequent evacuation of watery feces.diarrhe´aldiarrhe´ic

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choleraic diarrhea  a type seen in cholera, with serous feces and circulatory collapse.

familial chloride diarrhea  a type of severe watery diarrhea that begins in early infancy with feces containing excessive chloride because of impairment of chloride-bicarbonate exchange in the lower colon. Affected infants have a distended abdomen, lethargy, and retarded growth and mental development.

lienteric diarrhea  a form in which feces contain undigested food.

osmotic diarrhea  that due to the presence of osmotically active nonabsorbable solutes in the intestine, e.g., magnesium sulfate.

parenteral diarrhea  diarrhea due to infections outside the gastrointestinal tract.

secretory diarrhea  watery voluminous diarrhea resulting from increased stimulation of ion and water secretion, inhibition of their absorption, or both; osmolality of the feces approximates that of plasma.

summer diarrhea  acute diarrhea in children during the intense heat of summer.

toxigenic diarrhea  the watery voluminous diarrhea caused by enterotoxins from enterotoxigenic bacteria such as Vibrio cholerae and enterotoxigenic strains of Escherichia coli .

traveler's diarrhea  diarrhea in travelers, especially those visiting tropical or subtropical areas where sanitation is poor; many different agents can cause it, the most common being enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli.

tropical diarrhea  see under sprue.

weanling diarrhea  diarrhea in an infant when put on food other than its mother's milk, usually due to inadequate sanitation and infection by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli or rotaviruses.

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osmotic diarrhea,

a form of diarrhea associated with water retention in the bowel resulting from an accumulation of nonabsorbable water-soluble substances. An excessive intake of hexitols, sorbitol, and mannitol (used as sugar substitutes in candies, chewing gum, and dietetic foods) can result in slow absorption and rapid small intestine motility, leading to osmotic diarrhea. It may also occur in infants if they intake an undiluted concentrated form of formula. The severity of the condition varies directly with the amount of such sugar substitutes consumed and diminishes when intake is reduced. Also called chewing gum diarrhea, dietetic food diarrhea.

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diarrhea

rapid movement of fecal matter through the intestine resulting in poor absorption of water, nutritive elements and electrolytes, and producing abnormally frequent evacuation of watery droppings. The major causes are local irritation of the intestinal mucosa by infectious or chemical agents (gastroenteritis). In all types of diarrhea there is rapid evacuation of water and electrolytes resulting in a loss of these essential substances. Base (bicarbonate) especially is depleted by diarrhea, thus producing acidosis as well as fluid volume deficit.

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acute idiopathic diarrhea

acute diarrhea syndromes in horses which are not diagnosable, such as salmonellosis, strongylosis, cyathostomiasis, Potomac horse fever, colitis-X, antibiotic-induced diarrhea (above), intestinal clostridiosis.

acute undifferentiated diarrhea of the horse

severe, acute diarrhea likely to be fatal may be related to stress or antibiotic therapy. See also colitis-X, intestinal clostridiosis, salmonellosis.

antibiotic-associated diarrhea

results from disruption of the normal bowel flora as a result of antimicrobial therapy for any reason. May occur as moderate diarrhea or as a life threatening syndrome often with severe colitis or pseudo-membranous colitis. See also antibiotic-associated colitis.

bovine virus diarrhea

see bovine virus diarrhea.

campylobacter diarrhea

watery diarrhea without other obvious signs and without other obvious cause in yearling sheep, calves and foals. Campylobacter fetus subspp. jejuni and intestinalis have been suggested as causes. See also winter dysentery.

chronic undifferentiated diarrhea of the horse

chronic, very watery diarrhea for very long periods but the horse has normal appetite and loses weight only gradually. Esthetically very displeasing to pleasure horse owners. Irreversible but not usually fatal.

ciliate diarrhea

colitis caused by troglodytella in primates.

dietary diarrhea

a result of dietary indiscretion; occurs in all species. It is caused by the chemical or physical nature of the ingested material. The commonest occurrence of the syndrome is in newborn animals, especially those who ingest too much milk. There is often a history of access to an oversupply of milk or of a recent change of source to an over-rich milk replacer or indigestible components in replacer. It is also caused by too-rapid drinking. Affected animals are bright and alert and have a normal appetite but the feces are voluminous, soft to fluid and evil-smelling. Secondary bacterial enteritis may ensue but most cases recover spontaneously when the diet is adjusted. Scavenging dogs and cats ('garbage eaters') commonly ingest food that is spoiled or to which they are unaccustomed, resulting in various degrees of vomiting or diarrhea. Called also dietetic scours.

effusion diarrhea

caused by an increase in the transepithelial hydrostatic pressure gradient, such as occurs in congestive heart failure and hepatic portal hypertension.

epizootic porcine diarrhea

at least two types of epidemic diarrhea occur in pigs which are not transmissible gastroenteritis or due to other known cause.

large bowel diarrhea

in dogs and cats, signs referable to the site of enteric disease responsible for the diarrhea being the large intestine include tenesmus, mucus, hematochezia, and increased frequency of defecation.

malabsorptive diarrhea

villous atrophy, such as occurs with some viral infections, causes malabsorption diarrhea because of the reduction in area of absorptive intestinal epithelium.

nursery diarrhea

see nursery diarrhea.

osmotic diarrhea

an overload of unabsorbed osmotically active particles will attract and retain water, increasing fecal volume and causing diarrhea. Associated with maldigestion, malabsorption, overeating, excessive carbohydrates or fats. The basis for the laxative effect of magnesium sulfate, sodium sulfate or sodium phosphate.

psychogenic diarrhea

see irritable colon syndrome.

secretory diarrhea

derangement of normal secretory and absorptive functions of intestinal epithelium such as occurs with bacterial enterotoxins may result in excessive secretion and a resulting diarrhea. Escherichia coli is the prime example of an infection with this effect.

small bowel diarrhea

in dogs and cats, signs referable to the site of enteric disease responsible for the diarrhea being the small intestine include lack of tenesmus or mucus, increased fecal volume, melena and weight loss.

undifferentiated diarrhea of the newborn

the situation in which a newborn animal (less than 7 days old) has life-threatening acute diarrhea. There is insufficient time and it would cost too much to differentiate between all of the possible causes. Added to this is the common occurrence in which there are two or more agents present, often acting in concert. Because of the need to treat these cases urgently and effectively if their lives are to be saved it has become the practice to group them together for the purposes of treatment and prognosis.

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osmotic diarrhea

Internal medicine An ↑ in volume and frequency of fecal flow due to ingestion of a poorly absorbable solute–either a carbohydrate or divalent ion or hypertonic material, resulting in a fecal osmolality higher than plasma osmolality; OD may occur in antacid therapy, disaccharidase deficiency, magnesium sulfate ingestion and others, lactulose therapy, malabsorption of glucose-galactose, fructose or generalized malabsorption, or mannitol, and sorbitol ingestion. See Chewing gum diarrhea.