"What Is Gastroenteritis?" - Anna Medaris Miller
The word "gastroenteritis" means inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, explains Ari Grinspan, MD, director of GI Microbial Therapeutics at the Susan and Leonard Feinstein Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at Mount Sinai. So in fact, calling it the stomach flu is a misnomer, since it actually affects the intestines and isn’t usually caused by influenza, which is a respiratory illness, he explains. "When we say stomach flu, we're really talking traditionally about a virus or bacteria that has taken hold briefly in your GI tract and causes gastrointestinal symptoms like nausea and vomiting,” says Dr. Grinspan. Gastroenteritis isn't caused by one particular virus or bacteria, but rather describes the symptoms that result when any number of germs enter – and wreak havoc on – the digestive system.
- Ari Grinspan, MD, Assistant Professor, Medicine, Gastroenterology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Director, GI Microbial Therapeutics, The Susan and Leonard Feinstein Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at Mount Sinai