Acute Gastroenteritis

Clinical features

• Acute onset diarrhoea and / or vomiting
• Crampy abdominal pain
• Possibly fever 

Travel and occupational history should be sought

Investigations

• Stool (culture, C difficile toxin and norovirus as appropriate)
• Discuss suspected norovirus cases with the Infection Prevention and Control Team
• Consider HIV testing in otherwise healthy patients with confirmed infective gastroenteritis

Infection Control

Isolation with contact precautions

Treatment

Usually none required unless the patient is septic, immunosuppressed, or has confirmed invasive Campylobacter, Shigella or Salmonella

In bloody diarrhoea, antibiotics are usually contra-indicated due to risk of E coli 0157

Discuss any of the above with Microbiology on-call