Blood in the Intestines.
Aids
Diarrhoea is common in this disease and it is caused by a secondary infection of the bowel by a
wide variety of pathogenic organisms.
Non-Inflammatory Causes of Chronic Diarrhoea
Irritable Bowel
This term is usually used in Western medicine in all cases of abdominal pain and alternation of
diarrhoea and constipation for which no abnormality may be found on sigmoidoscopy,
colonoscopy or barium enema. Rather than a specific "disease", it is a diagnostic refuge
whenever a specific cause cannot be found.
The clinical manifestations include abdominal pain and distension and diarrhoea which often
alternates with constipation.
From a Chinese perspective, this condition often corresponds to stagnant Liver-Qi invading the
Spleen.
Neoplasm
A malignant cancer of the large intestine may cause diarrhoea. This would be accompanied by
abdominal pain.
The causes of diarrhoea are summarized in Table 18.1Table 18.1.