Post-Infectious Irritable Bowel Syndrome after an Epidemic of Gastroenteritis in South of Iran

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic disabling condition without a well-defined etiology. Infectious gastroenteritis (IGE) has been linked to this syndrome. There are few data from Iran on this association.

In August 2018, an epidemic of IGE caused by Escherichia coli occurred in a village in the west of Shiraz in southern Iran. One year after this epidemic, the occurrence of IBS was surveyed in those who suffered from IGE based on Rome IV criteria in that village.

Of 179 patients included in the present study, 17 patients (9.5%) had postinfectious (PI)-IBS. There was no difference in age, sex, antibiotic use, hematochezia, duration of infectious diarrhea, fever, and weight loss at the time of IGE between those with and without PI-IBS.

PI-IBS is common after IGE, but no risk factor for its development was found in this study.