Food Poisoning, Infectious Diarrhea Raises Risk For Irritable Bowel Syndrome

- Infectious gastroenteritis will increase the risk of developing certain function bowel disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome, heart burn  and functional dyspepsia.  This is according to a new study published in the latest issue do the medical journal Gastroenterology

· Study authors report that gastroenteritis can lead to heartburn or IBS years later.  Infectious gastroenteritis may cause chronic low-grade inflammation of the intestinal track which can lead to symptoms of functional bowels disorders.

· The current study analyzed people from a small community in Canada where there was an outbreak of bacterial gastroenteritis in the year 2000.  Over 2,300 people were infected and seven people died from the infection.

· Researchers studied approximately 1,088 participants from this community six year period.
Over 50% of the study participants who had been infected during the outbreak reported symptoms of dyspepsia which included heart burn, nonspecific abdominal pain and discomfort.  Only 30% of the people who were not infected during the outbreak had dyspepsia symptoms

· Given the higher rate of gastrointestinal complaints in the affected study population, researchers concluded that bacterial gastroenteritis plays a role in the development of chronic functional bowel disorders.

Cristopher Geiler, MD
Gastroenterology 2010

Posted on March 3, 2010

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