Colitis - daichouen (English spelling) colitis

A general term for inflammatory diseases of the large intestine, which includes a wide variety of diseases and can be classified in various ways. (1) It can be divided into acute and chronic depending on the duration of the disease, but the distinction is not always clear. Usually, colitis that lasts for several months is not called acute colitis. Most acute colitis is infectious, and chronic colitis is often nonspecific colitis such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. (2) It can be divided into diffuse and localized depending on the location and spread. Typical examples of diffuse colitis are ulcerative colitis, and typical examples of localized colitis are Crohn's disease and intestinal tuberculosis. (3) It can be divided into infectious and noninfectious depending on whether or not there is an infection. Most infectious colitis is acute colitis caused by bacterial infection, such as bacterial dysentery, typhoid fever, and salmonella enteritis, but intestinal tuberculosis and amebiasis, the course is chronic. (4) It can be divided into specific and nonspecific depending on whether the cause is clear or not. Specific colitis is a general term for colitis with a clear etiology, including intestinal tuberculosis, bacterial dysentery, and Salmonella colitis. Nonspecific colitis has an unknown etiology and is also called idiopathic colitis, with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease being typical examples. (5) Other examples include refractory radiation colitis seen after radiation therapy for uterine cancer, colitis caused by bacterial replacement due to antibiotic administration, ischemic colitis that occurs in conjunction with arteriosclerosis and diabetes, and infectious colitis caused by food poisoning.

The main symptom is diarrhea, often accompanied by abdominal pain and fever. It is diagnosed by bacteriological examination of feces, colonoscopy, and barium enema X-ray.

[Yutaka Yoshida]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

大腸の炎症性疾患の総称で、多種多様の疾患を含み、いろいろな分類法がある。（1）発病期間によって急性と慢性に分けられるが、区別はかならずしも明確でない。普通、数か月に及ぶものは急性大腸炎とはよばない。急性大腸炎の多くは感染性大腸炎であり、慢性大腸炎は潰瘍(かいよう)性大腸炎やクローン病など非特異性大腸炎の場合が多い。（2）部位や広がりによって、びまん性と限局性に分ける。びまん性大腸炎は潰瘍性大腸炎、限局性大腸炎はクローン病や腸結核がそれぞれ代表例である。（3）感染の有無からは、感染性と非感染性に分ける。感染性大腸炎は細菌性赤痢、腸チフス、サルモネラ腸炎など、細菌感染による急性大腸炎がほとんどであるが、腸結核やアメーバ症などでは慢性の経過をとる。（4）病因が明確であるかどうかによっては、特異性と非特異性に分けられる。特異性大腸炎は病因の明確なものの総称で、腸結核、細菌性赤痢、サルモネラ腸炎などが含まれる。非特異性大腸炎は病因が不明で、特発性大腸炎ともよばれ、潰瘍性大腸炎やクローン病が代表例である。（5）このほか、子宮癌(がん)の放射線治療後にみられる難治性の放射線性大腸炎、抗生物質投与による菌交代現象で生ずる大腸炎、動脈硬化症や糖尿病などに併発する虚血性大腸炎、食中毒による感染性大腸炎などがある。

　主症状は下痢で、腹痛や発熱を伴うことが多い。糞便(ふんべん)の細菌学的検査、大腸内視鏡検査、注腸X線検査などで診断される。

［吉田　豊］

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