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Colitis (cont.)

Prevention

Infectious colitis remains a common ailment worldwide, affecting millions daily. The lack of clean drinking water and adequate sanitation are the main causes, leading to thousands of potentially preventable deaths each day. In developed countries, poor hand washing and poor kitchen hygiene allow the potential for infectious colitis. Prevention lies in cleanliness.

Inflammatory bowel diseases may be difficult to prevent at the present time. The likely causes are heredity and perhaps an abnormal auto-immune response to an unknown stimulus in the body.

Since ischemic colitis is caused by narrowing of the blood vessels to the bowel, decreasing the risks for other types of circulatory problems such as peripheral vascular disease, heart attack, and stroke will also decrease the risk for ischemic colitis. The common risk factors are smoking and poor control of high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and diabetes.



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Colitis »

Colitis is an inflammation of the colon. It may be associated with enteritis (inflammation of the intestine) and/or proctitis (inflammation of the rectum).

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