Describe clinical disease of EIEC.

• A. Bloody diarrhea with possible septicemia; usually in poultry.
• B. Watery diarrhea without blood.
• C. Vomiting and dehydration only.
• D. No symptoms.

Answer: (A)

EIEC causes an invasive, dysentery-like illness in humans. It invades the colonic mucosa, provoking a strong inflammatory response that leads to bloody, sometimes mucoid stools, along with abdominal cramps and fever. This invasive pattern can, in vulnerable individuals, progress to systemic involvement such as septicemia, which is why describing bloody diarrhea with possible septicemia fits EIEC best. The other descriptions don’t match the typical invasive presentation: purely watery diarrhea suggests noninvasive diarrheagenic strains, vomiting with dehydration only misses the inflammatory stool findings, and no symptoms would be incorrect for an Enteroinvasive infection. The line about poultry is not relevant to human EIEC infection, which is a human enteric pathogen.