Be alert, severe diarrhea can cause death

Diarrhea is one of the most common diseases experienced by Indonesians, both children and adults. In fact, within a year some people may experience diarrhea pain 3 to 6 times. Even so, most people often underestimate this disease because it is considered a disease that does not cause more severe health problems. In fact, diarrhea that is already severe can cause death.

Diarrhea is one of the leading causes of death

Diarrhea is a disease characterized by watery stools and a frequency of bowel movements that are more frequent than usual. Many things can cause a person to experience diarrhea, for example eating food that has been contaminated with parasites, bacteria, and viruses, such as norovirus and rotavirus. Not only that, diarrhea can also be caused due to food allergies or side effects of certain drugs.

Everyone, regardless of age and gender, can experience diarrhea. Usually diarrhea lasts only a few days. But in some serious cases, this disease can last for weeks and if not treated properly can cause death.

Until now, diarrhea is one of the biggest health problems in Indonesian society. Quoted from the page of the Bulentin Window for Health Data and Information of the Ministry of Health published in 2011, it is known that diarrhea is ranked 13th as the cause of death for all ages with a proportion of 3.5 percent. Meanwhile, based on the category of infectious diseases, diarrhea is the third cause of death after pneumonia and tuberculosis. Based on these data, the age group that experienced the most diarrhea was toddlers with a prevalence of 16.7 percent.

Why does diarrhea cause death?

When diarrhea, the body will lose a lot of body fluids and ions. This makes people who experience diarrhea prone to dehydration. When the fluid level in your body decreases, the ion balance in the body is also disturbed. As a result, the function of your organs and tissues cannot work optimally.

Now, if dehydration has entered a severe phase, a person will be more at risk of experiencing various serious complications such as impaired kidney function, seizures, metabolic acidosis, to hypovolemic shock due to loss of too much fluid. This shock can cause loss of consciousness (fainting) or even death.

Therefore diarrhea should not be taken lightly even though this condition is common.

How to avoid the fatal effects of diarrhea?

As mentioned above, diarrhea can cause the body to lose large amounts of fluids and ions.

That is why, maintaining a balance of fluids and ions is important during diarrhea. A person who experiences diarrhea is required to meet his fluid intake with drinks that not only contain water but also ions to restore lost ions and maintain ion balance in the body.

Immediately consult a doctor if your diarrhea symptoms get worse. This is done so that you can immediately get the right treatment.