Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman. Oklahoma's Dede Westbrook (11) runs on a reverse and is tackled by Jordan Thomas (7) during the annual University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) Spring Game college football game at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., on Saturday, April 11, 2015. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman.
What is dysentery? Dysentery broadly refers to infectious gastrointestinal disorders characterized by inflammation of the intestines, chiefly the colon. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines dysentery as any episode of diarrhea in which blood is present in loose, watery stools. Dysentery is spread among humans through contaminated food and water. Once a person is infected, the infectious organism lives in the intestines and is passed in the stool of the infected person. With some infections, animals can also be infected and spread the disease to humans.
An infection of the intestines marked by severe diarrhea. Classified under: Nouns denoting stable states of affairs. Hypernyms (dysentery is a kind of...): infectious disease (a disease transmitted only by a specific kind of contact) Meronyms (parts of dysentery): diarrhea; diarrhoea; looseness; looseness of the bowels (frequent and watery bowel movements; can be a symptom of infection or food poisoning or colitis or a gastrointestinal tumor) Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of dysentery): amebic dysentery; amoebic dysentery (inflammation of the intestines caused by Endamoeba histolytica; usually acquired by ingesting food or water contaminated with feces; characterized by severe diarrhea)