Cite this page: Gulwani H. Brainerd diarrhea. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/colonbrainerd.html. Accessed March 29th, 2024.
Definition / general
- Chronic watery diarrhea of unknown etiology with acute onset and long duration (Centers for Disease Control, Wikipedia)
- First case in 1983 in Brainerd, Minnesota (USA)
- Similar to epidemic infectious diarrhea, but symptoms usually last 4+ weeks, often years
- Most patients recover within 3 years or less
Case reports
- California restaurant outbreak (Clin Infect Dis 2006;43:62)
- Texas restaurant outbreak (Clin Infect Dis 2006;43:55)
- Cruise ship outbreak (J Infect Dis 1998;177:1041)
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Surface epithelial lymphocytosis (similar to lymphocytic colitis) with no architectural distortion, no degenerative changes, no thickened subepithelial collagen (Am J Surg Pathol 1996;20:1102)