Acute diarrhea is defined as lasting less than 4 weeks and is commonly caused by infectious organisms or toxins. It is usually self-limited and, in the absence of blood in the stool, usually remains undiagnosed. If a patient is seen early in the course of illness and has no systemic symptoms or blood in the stool, and if diarrhea is mild, observation and follow-up are the most appropriate courses of action. Otherwise, and partic-ularly in the presence of blood, stool should be sent for evalua-tion of infetions organisms, and treatment should be instituted when appropriate. If organisms are not identified, sigmoi-doscopy should be performed and biopsies obtained. Perfor-mance of further investigations depends on the results of sig-moidscopy (for instance, if inflammatory bowel disease is suspected), severity of diarrhea, the immune status of the host, and the presence of systemic toxicity. A general algorithm for the evaluation of acute diarrhea is shown in the following Figure 1.

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