With the arrival of the monsoon showers, come along a host of ailments. Diarrhoea or food poisoning as we generally know it, is one of the most common ailments during this season.

Diarrhoea is an unpleasant digestive disorder that nearly everyone experiences at one time or another. In fact, it's estimated that most people have Diarrhoea about four times every year.

A large number of deaths in India are from diarrhoeal diseases, many of which are due to lack of adequate safe water and lack of sewage treatment capacity. The separation of drinking water from contaminated sewage is also a major issue.

Common causes of Diarrhoea are infections from viruses, bacteria or parasites. Escherichia coli is the name of a type of bacteria that lives in your intestines. Most types of E. coli are harmless.

However, some types can make you sick and cause Diarrhoea. Unclean toilets: People have a misconception that they can only get diarrhoea by eating contaminated food, but the fact is that 80 per cent of the times it spreads because of germs inhabiting unclean toilets.

Food: Most people have certain foods that may cause Diarrhoea. For junk and street food eaters, Diarrhoea often occurs the morning after.

Many people are intolerant of milk and milk products so that even small amounts of the milk sugar lactose can cause Diarrhoea. Large amounts of fatty foods cause the same problem in other people. The obvious solution in all these instances is to avoid eating uncooked and roadside food especially during the monsoons.

Contaminated Water: Parasites can enter the body through contaminated water and settle in the digestive system. Unchlorinated water can be one of the causes of Diarrhoea.

Symptoms
Symptoms start about 7 days after you are infected with the germ. The first sign is severe abdominal cramps that start suddenly. After a few hours, watery diarrhoea starts. The diarrhoea causes your body to lose fluids and electrolytes (dehydration), which make you, feel sick and tired. This lasts for about a day.

The diarrhoea then changes to bright red bloody stools.

The infection makes ulcers in your intestines, so the stools become bloody. This lasts for 2 to 5 days - you might have 10 or more bowel movements a day - some people say their stools are "all blood and no stool". Although usually not harmful,

Diarrhoea can become dangerous or signal a more serious problem when one has fever, blood in your stools, severe Diarrhoea for more than three days or symptoms of dehydration.

Precautions
The Indian Medical Association, Mumbai Branch recommends the following precautions to avoid Diarrhoea.

Clean toilets properly using a thick toilet disinfectant containing sodium hypochlorite which helps kill germs.

During the rains avoid raw food which is subject to contamination particularly in areas where hygiene and sanitation are inadequate.

Courtesy: Domex (HLL)