dysentery (dis'en-ter-e)

An acute or chronic inflammatory disease of the large intestine. The symptoms consist of abdominal pains, frequent desire to evacuate the bowels, the evacuations consisting largely of blood and mucus. It is caused most commonly by infection from the Bacilli dysenteriae of the Amoebae col i. The term d. is that of the symptoms and not of a specific disease as formerly. bacillary d. D. arising from or caused by Bacillus dysenteriae. bloody d. Acute d. with exce of bloody discharge, choler i form d., choleroid d. A form of acute d. in which the dejections resemble those of cholera and are accompanied by suppre ion of urine, an algid state, cramps, etc. chronic d. A condition in which the dysenteric symptoms have persisted or recurred over a long time. diphtheritic d. A form of acute d. characterized by a fibrinous semi gangrenous exudation taking the place of the destroyed epithelium of the intestine, epidemic d. D., usually acute, occurring as an epidemic due to some common infection, especially of drinking water. malignant d. An asthenic form of d. of a severe type, especially apt to occur epidemically in armies and to lead to gangrene, mucous d. A mild form of d. in which the stools contain ma es of mucus or of feces inclosed in mucus, secondary d. D. occurring in the course of other severe constitutional diseases, as typhoid fever, smallpox, measles, etc. The symptoms are the same, but the cause is probably not the Bacillus dysenteriae. sporadic d. Acute d. not occurring as an epidemic. [Gr., dys, difficult, painful, + enteron, an intestine.]