What is the Difference Between Diarrhea and Gastroenteritis

The key difference between diarrhea and gastroenteritis is that diarrhea is a condition that causes loose, watery, and possibly more frequent bowel movements, while gastroenteritis is a condition that causes inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, including the stomach and intestine.

Diarrhea and gastroenteritis are two medical conditions mainly caused due to infection of the gastrointestinal tract by bacteria, viruses, or parasites. Dehydration is the main risk of gastrointestinal infections. Therefore, rehydration is very important in case of gastrointestinal infections. However, most gastrointestinal infections are self-limited and resolve within a few days time. Moreover, gastrointestinal infections are more prominent in specific populations like newborns/infants, immune-compromised patients, or the elderly population.

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Diarrhea
3. What is Gastroenteritis
4. Similarities – Diarrhea and Gastroenteritis
5. Diarrhea vs Gastroenteritis in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Diarrhea vs Gastroenteritis

What is Diarrhea?

Diarrhea is a medical condition that causes loose, watery, and possibly more frequent bowel movements. It is a common problem. It can be present alone or be associated with other symptoms like nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and weight loss. Diarrhea is normally short-lived and lasts no more than a few days. However, when diarrhea lasts for more than a few days, into weeks, it indicates there is another problem such as persistent infection, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or celiac disease. The signs and symptoms of this medical condition include abdominal cramps, bloating, nausea, vomiting, fever, blood in stool, mucus in the stool, and urgent need to have a bowel movement.

Diarrhea vs Gastroenteritis in Tabular Form

Figure 01: Diarrhea

Viruses (Norwalk virus, cytomegalovirus, rotavirus), bacteria (E. coli) and parasites, medications (antibiotics), lactose intolerance, fructose, artificial sweeteners, surgery, and other diseases (IBS, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, celiac disease, etc.) are several causes for diarrhea. Diarrhea can be diagnosed through medical history, physical examinations, blood tests, stool tests, hydrogen breath tests, flexible sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy, and upper endoscopy. Furthermore, the treatment options for diarrhea are antibiotics and anti-parasitics, replacing fluid and salts (IV fluid), oral rehydration solution (Pedialyte), adjusting medicines, treating underlying conditions and lifestyle, and home remedies (drinking plenty of liquids, adding semisolid and low fiber foods gradually, avoiding certain food such ads dairy, over the counter anti-diarrheal medications and taking probiotics).

What is Gastroenteritis?

Gastroenteritis is a condition that causes inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, including the stomach and intestine. Gastroenteritis symptoms may include diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, fever, lack of energy, headache, muscle pain, blood in stool, capillary refill and skin turgor in children, abnormal breathing, reactive arthritis, Guillain Barre syndrome, hemolytic uremic syndrome, and benign infantile seizures. Viruses (rotavirus) and bacteria (E. coli and Camphylobacter) are the primary causes of gastroenteritis. Other infectious agents such as parasites (Giardia lambila) and fungus can also cause gastroenteritis. Non-infectious (medications like NSAIDS, foods like lactose and gluten, ciguatera poisoning, tetrodotoxin poisoning, botulism, lead poisoning) causes are normally seen on some occasions.

Diarrhea and Gastroenteritis - Side by Side Comparison

Figure 02: Gastroenteritis

Gastroenteritis can be diagnosed through medical history, physical examination, blood test, and stool test. Furthermore, treatments for gastroenteritis include taking plenty of fluid, oral rehydration drinks, intravenous fluid replacement, antibiotic, antiviral, anti-parasitic or antifungal medications, and antidiarrhoeal medications such as loperamide, bismuth subsalicylate.

What are the Similarities Between Diarrhea and Gastroenteritis?

Diarrhea and gastroenteritis are two medical conditions mainly caused due to infection of the gastrointestinal tract.
Both conditions specifically affect the gastrointestinal tract.
Both conditions may have similar causes and symptoms.
They can be treated through medications such as antibiotics, antivirals, anti-parasitic, or anti-diarrheal drugs.

What is the Difference Between Diarrhea and Gastroenteritis?

Diarrhea is a condition that causes loose, watery, and possibly more frequent bowel movements, while gastroenteritis is a condition that causes inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, including the stomach and intestine. Thus, this is the key difference between diarrhea and gastroenteritis. The causes of diarrhea include viruses, bacteria and parasites, medications, lactose intolerance, fructose, artificial sweeteners, surgery, and other diseases such as IBS, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, celiac disease, microscopic colitis, and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). On the other hand, the causes of gastroenteritis include viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungi, bacterial toxins, chemicals, and other medications.

The below infographic presents the differences between diarrhea and gastroenteritis in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.

Summary – Diarrhea vs Gastroenteritis

Diarrhea and gastroenteritis are two medical conditions caused due to infections of the gastrointestinal tract. Diarrhea is a condition that causes loose, watery, and possibly more frequent bowel movements. Gastroenteritis is a condition that causes inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, including the stomach and intestine. So, this is the key difference between diarrhea and gastroenteritis.