Profuse watery diarrhoea
Type: Symptom
Definition
The sudden onset of massive volumes of pale, liquid stool, often termed rice-water stool.
Clinical Details
The cholera enterotoxin permanently activates adenylate cyclase in the intestinal mucosal cells, forcing them to relentlessly pump chloride ions into the gut lumen. Water follows this massive osmotic gradient, flooding the intestines far beyond their reabsorptive capacity. The patient expels liters of painless, pale fluid flecked with intestinal mucus.