Kristin Segall, age 15, of Danville, Ill., for her question:
HOW DOES A PERSON GET DIVERTICULITIS?
Diverticulitis is a common disease of the large intestine, the colon. Doctors believe the disease, which is rarely found in people under the age of 30, can strike when a person's diet is low in roughage, or fruit and vegetable fibers.
Diverticulosis involves the presence of pouches called diverticula along the outside of the colon. Diverticulitis sufferers often have no symptoms at first. Later, there is pain in the lower left part of the abdomen and a fever.
Doctors at one time thought that a diet low in fruit and vegetable fibers would help prevent diverticulosis. But today, evidence shows that the very opposite is most likely true.
Medical authorities say that a shortage of roughage in the diet makes the waste material in the colon extremely firm and compact. The waste cannot move easily through the colon and high pressure results.
The high pressure in the colon can force the inner membrane of the colon to bulge out through several weak points in the lining of the organ. Such action forms small, permanent diverticula that may be seen with an X ray examination.
Treatment with certain medicines cures most cases of diverticulitis. The disorder is widespread among middle aged and elderly people in northern Europe and in North America. In the United States, where most people eat regulatively little roughage, nearly half of those over 60 years of age have diverticulosis.
Diverticulitis develops in many cases of diverticulosis. It results when one of the diverticula breaks open. The material that leaks out infects the outer surface of the colon. In most cases, the infection stays in a small area. But it may spread and develop into peritonitis, a severe illness that can cause death.
Doctors treat diverticulitis with antibiotics to control infection, drugs to relax the muscles of the colon and compounds to help empty the colon. A diet high in roughage may help prevent a recurrence of the disease.
When one of the diverticula breaks open and infection develops, the problem may spread and cause peritonitis, an inflammation of the peritoneum (the thin membrane that lines the abdominal cavity).
Chronic peritonitis can cause inflamed tissues to grow together. Acute peritonitis occurs suddenly. The inflammation may affect a small part of the peritoneum, or it may involve a large area. It starts with fever, chills and severe abdominal pain. The pulse becomes rapid and the number of white blood cells increases.