Dysentery

(dis’ -en-ter-e) [di’f, bad; evrepov, the bowels]. An inflammation of the large intestine, probably infectious in origin, and characterized by pain, rectal tenesmus, and the frequent pa age of small amounts of mucus and blood. Anatomically, three varieties may be distinguished: the catarrhal, the diphtheritic, and the gangrenous. The true cause of dysentery is not definitely known, but with many cases the amoeba col i is intimately a ociated, particularly in the dysentery of the tropics (amebic dysentery). 249