Dysentery (Gr. dys, 'difficult,' and enteron, 'the intestine'), a form of disease accompanied by discharges from the bowels, and differing from Diarrhoea (q.v.) chiefly in being attended by marked fever and pain, as also by the presence of blood and inflammatory products in the discharges. Dysentery is, in fact, a disease of the mucous membrane of the colon or great Intestine (q.v.), and when severe it is followed by the destruction of that mucous membrane to a great extent, the intestine becoming much contracted at intervals, especially in its lower part, and the evacuations being therefore apt to be retained, especially the solid portions. The most distinctive symptoms are excessive pain in evacuating the bowels, and frequent ineffectual attempts at evacuation (tenesmus), tenderness on pressure in the left side of the abdomen, discharges of blood mixed with mucus, and comparatively little faecal matter; these symptoms being accompanied or followed by intense fever, passing early into depression of strength.
After the acute symptoms have passed off, the disease sometimes continues in a chronic form for a long period, greatly enfeebling the patient. Dysentery is a disease of extreme danger in many cases, and should always be placed early under medical treatment. The best domestic plan, when medical advice cannot be at once procured, is to give a moderate dose of castor-oil, guarded by twenty or thirty drops of laudanum, and then twenty-grain doses of powdered ipecacuan, repeated every six or eight hours, with opium sufficient to subdue the pain and tenesmus, and diminish the tendency to vomiting which the ipecacuan is apt to produce (one grain every two, four, or six hours). If the pain and irritation of the bowels are extreme, the opium had better be given by a small injection (see CLYSTER) with starch, after the lower bowel has been well cleansed by a larger warm-water injection; and it will be well to repeat the simple warm-water injection at intervals throughout the treatment. Dysentery, in its most severe and epidemic forms, is commonly a disease of the tropical zone, and frequently, though not always, occurs in low and swampy regions, where malarial fevers are also prevalent. Some authorities, indeed, regard dysentery as itself a malarial disease; but this is not certain. Isolated cases, occurring in localities not subject to the disease, are seldom severe or dangerous. It is often found in connection with abscess of the liver.