What is Dysentery?

Dysentery is diarrhea's dangerous sibling. Ordinary loose motions are miserable but usually harmless; dysentery means the infection has invaded the bowel wall itself - and the signature is blood or mucus in the stool, with cramping pain and a constant, straining urge to pass stool (tenesmus).

Two germs cause almost all of it. Shigella bacteria cause bacillary dysentery: abrupt onset, fever, and frequent small bloody-mucoid stools. The Entamoeba histolytica parasite causes amoebic dysentery: slower, colicky, sometimes with weeks of on-and-off symptoms - and a delayed danger, because the amoeba can travel to the liver and form an abscess long after the bowel symptoms settle. Both spread the same way: through contaminated water, food and hands - the fecal-oral route that poor sanitation and the monsoon season make worse.

A few things every family should know:

• Dysentery is not a home-watch-and-wait illness the way simple diarrhea can be. Blood in the stool is a reason to see a doctor, not to wait it out.
• ORS still saves lives - the dehydration from dysentery is what kills, especially children - but ORS alone is not enough here. The infection itself usually needs medicine.
• Never use anti-motility "stopping" medicines (loperamide and friends) in dysentery. Slowing the bowel down during an invasive infection traps the germ and its toxins inside. This rule is even stricter than for ordinary diarrhea.
• Children also benefit from zinc, on a doctor's advice.

India carries a heavy dysentery burden, and every monsoon refreshes it. The good news: it is preventable with boring, powerful weapons - safe water, soap, and food hygiene - and treatable when it happens.

This series covers dysentery fully: causes, symptoms, types, stages, Ayurvedic and home care, diet, medicines, prevention, treatment and recovery yoga.