Dysentery

Dysentery (formerly known as flux or the bloody flux) is the term for tenesmus (painful straining to pass stool), cramping, and frequent, small-volume severe diarrhea associated with blood in the feces. Symptoms frequently associated with dysentery include fever and malaise.

Dysentery has many causes, including cancer, but is typically associated with infection caused by the ingestion of food or water containing micro-organisms which cause significant inflammation of the intestinal lining. There are two major types: shigellosis, which is caused by one of several types of Shigella bacteria; and amoebic dysentery, caused by the amoeba Entamoeba histolytica. Kiyoshi Shiga discovered the dysentery bacteria in 1898.