Patient's question:
What should I do about viral gastroenteritis? My baby has a fever and diarrhea. Today, the doctor at the children's hospital said it's viral gastroenteritis and suggested IV fluids. Can they still breastfeed? UrgentDoctor's answer:
The virus primarily invades the epithelial cells of the intestinal villi, leading to the shedding of these cells and their replacement with squamous or cuboidal epithelial cells that lack digestive enzymes. As a result, the levels of villus enzymes such as maltase, sucrase, and lactase in the normal intestinal mucosa decrease, causing impaired absorption function. Since lactose and other disaccharides cannot be digested and absorbed, they remain in the intestine, leading to changes in the osmotic pressure of the intestinal mucosa and lumen, causing fluid to enter the lumen and triggering osmotic diarrhea.