What is chronic diarrhea?
Diarrhea that lasts for more than 2 weeks is considered persistent or chronic. In an otherwise healthy person, chronic diarrhea may be a nuisance problem, or, for someone who has a weak immune system, a life-threatening illness.
What causes chronic diarrhea?
There are many causes of chronic diarrhea; these may be different for children and adults. Causes of chronic diarrhea can be grouped into two categories: diarrhea caused by an infection and diarrhea not caused by an infection. Sometimes, the cause of chronic diarrhea remains unknown.
Diarrhea caused by an infection may result from:
- Parasites, such as: Cryptosporidium parvum, Cyclospora cayetanensis, Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia, microsporidia
- Bacteria, such as: Campylobacter, Clostridium difficile, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enteritidis, Shigella
- Viral infections, such as: HIV, rotavirus, Norwalk agent
Diarrhea not caused by an infection may result from:
- Antibiotics
- High blood pressure medications
- Cancer drugs
- Crohn's disease
- Colitis
- Diabetes, thyroid and other endocrine diseases
- Food additives (sorbitol, fructose, and others)
- Food allergies
- Previous surgery or radiation of the abdomen or gastrointestinal tract
- Tumors
- Reduced blood flow to the intestine
- Heredity--certain diseases occur more often in related family members.
- Travel
